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

First Outing

My work takes me to a farm in Essex MA. Working with the NRCS State Soil Scientist Al Averill, we have to make a determination if some of the fields on this farm are highly erodible land (HEL). The way we determine HEL is by digging test pits to determine what type of soil we are dealing with and then determining the slope.

Here is an example from the report Al wrote:

Methodology: land in question was traversed on foot, holes excavated with a tile spade, auger and probe. Soil properties were noted.

Results; map depicting approximate locations of field boundaries plowed areas and areas dominated by shallow soils and rock outcrop.

Map Legend:

1,2,3,4, – CLU field boundaries in red ink a.,b., c – plowed areas w/in field boundaries in black ink Areas w/in blue polygons delineated w/ blue ink – dominated by shallow Hollis soils w/ lesser amounts of rock outcrop

Areas dominated by Chatfield soils: 1,2a.,2b.,2c.,3b.,3c.
Areas dominated by Woodbridge soils: 3a.
Areas dominated by Charlton soils/highly erodible land – 4.

Learnings from this exercise, how to use a clinometer, soil horizons, soil types and HEL determinations on Ag land. Knowing if you have HEL as a farmer is extremely important as it pertains to government funding such as EQIP, not to mention soil health.