Haney Soil Testing

Soil health is one of the foundations of farming. Another project that I worked on this summer was the Haney soil testing. A number of local farmers volunteer one or more fields for the survey. The Haney soil tests are different than regular soil tests because they measure not only N/P/K but also the biology of the soil not just the chemical makeup. To further understand the Haney test view the clips I have attached.

I was given approx. 12 fields to test. They were mostly in Hadley Meadows, the Honey Pot and North Hadley. I used a soil probe and took samples of the top 6 inches of the soil at 10 to 12 probe sites throughout the field. I then mixed the samples from the probe sites from that field.  Each field was bagged and marked accordingly and shipped to the lab.

The information gained from these tests help us to understand not only the soil as it pertains to soil chemistry but also the biology of soil and how important the roll of that biology plays in overall soil health.

Rick Haney on soil health

Rick Haney on N

Rick Haney on mimicking nature in the lab

Cover Crop

Cover Crop Reporting

Another interesting project I was able to work on was cover crop reporting. Each year we drive all over the state to see how farmers are doing at keeping the soil covered to prevent wind and water erosion as well as keeping live roots constantly in the pedosphere.

Cover cropping is very dependent on what crop you are harvesting and whether you can get the cover crop established before the growing season comes to an end. For example if you are growing vegetables you may use the whole season to grow your crop. If you grow pumpkins until late in the season you have very little time to establish a cover crop. This type of growing and the lack of a cover crop throughout the winter can lead to soil nutrient and organic matter loss.

NRCS has a big push this year for aerial seeding of cover crops on corn and soy beans. The idea is to have a helicopter seed an active corn or soy field prior to harvest. This gives the cover crop time to get established while the corn is still growing. Then when the corn or soy is harvested it opens up the canopy giving the cover crop ample time to grow before the season ends.

Here are a couple of clips that help to explain the importance of cover crops and how they are aerially applied.

Soil Health and Cover Crop

Aerial Seeding

Pasture Training

Pasture Ecology Training

Being a pathways Intern means endless hours of training and learning the job of planning conservation practices on the land. One of the most interesting trainings I have had the opportunity to take was Pastureland Ecology II. This training was an in depth look at raising organic dairy cows on pasture instead of a feed lot environment.

There are many moving parts in an organic dairy that uses pasture to feed the herd of dairy cows. Things to consider are:

• Pasture Condition
• Animal Condition
• Animal Type
• Balancing Diet
• Grazing
• Agricultural Waste Management
• Nutrient Management
• Fencing and Watering
• Animal trails
• Shade
• Milking
• Breeding

This system is interconnected, each part is complex upon itself and when you produce a systems map each part needs to be in balance with the others so that the system runs smoothly. If one part of the system fails it can bring the operation to a halt.

Studying this subject at the University of New Hampshire in Durham for a week with experts in the field is one of the reasons I love my job and appreciate the opportunities I have been given as a Pathways Intern.

National Resource Inventory

NRI

National Resource Inventory is a statistical survey of land use and natural resource conditions and trends on U.S. non-Federal lands.  As an intern I was asked by the Massachusetts State Soil Scientist to assist in compiling and reporting NRI data for the western part of the state. This will help to generate a report which you can view an example of at:

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/technical/nra/nri/

This inventory is an import tool to see how land use is changing. It shows how we are losing prime farmland to other uses. Looking at the 2010 report MA lost nearly 57.2 thousand acres of prime farmland from 1982 to 2010.

The U.S. and MA state governments have programs to help to preserve prime farmland. One such program is the Agricultural Preservation Restriction Program (APR):

http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/agr/land-use/agricultural-preservation-restriction-program-apr.html

These programs help to keep prime farmland in agricultural use by paying for a permanent deed restriction that keeps that property in agricultural use in perpetuity. I was glad that he asked me to help with the project because I feel strongly about saving farms and farmland.