Soil and Farmlands

Soil and Farmlands

Soil Conservation

• Vital to humans

• We depend on soil

  • Food (grains, livestock)

  • Clothing (cotton)

  • Clean water

Videos on dust bowl

What is soil?

• Sand and clay aren’t great for growing plants. Sand can’t hold water, clay is chunky and hard to grow through.

• Soil is renewable (with our help)

• Consists of 4 components

  • mineral matter

  • organic matter

  • water

  • air

• Soil is an ecosystem (biological community and all abiotic factors influencing that community)

Organic Matter

• Living or dead plant and animal material in the soil

• Humus: the decomposed products of plants and animals, wastes, and materials broken down and created by microorganisms

  • soil structure

  • pore space (water and air)

  • pH buffer (bacteria)

  • increases nutrient and water storage

  • minimizes leaching

  • reduces erosion

  • habitat (worms)

Healthy Soil

• 50% organic and mineral

• 50% water and air

  • constant moving of oxygen and carbon dioxide between soil, plants, and atmosphere

  • photosynthesis

• Can also contain pollutants

Importance of Healthy Soils

• base of agricultural productivity

  • soil is diverse, in NC over 325 types

  • 97% of worldwide food comes from land

  • NC agriculture and forestry contribute 30% monetary income, 21% of the jobs

• soils are the nutrient source and the substrate for vegetation (food, clothing)

• soils are dynamic and move due to water and wind

• Decomposers

• release nutrients back to the soil

• carbon sequestration

• water filtration

• Takes 10’s to 1000’s of years to make soil

Wildlife and Farmlands

• Agricultural revolutions

  • plants domesticated 10,000 years ago

  • crop rotation

  • 15-18 century explorers and trade

  • the industrial revolution, mechanization

  • technology

• Clearing for farms

• Land abandonment

  • civil war, depression, WWII

• Some winners, some losers

• Loss of hayfields/fallow fields

  • conversion from grass-associated to row crops (corn, soybeans, cotton)

  • monocultures

  • less species diversity

• Larger farms

  • less edge

• Clean farming

  • lost edges, fence rows

  • less interspersion

  • basically less habitat

• Mechanized equipment can kill wildlife

Farm Crops as Wildlife Food

• provide food for wildlife

  • quail, pheasants, prairie chickens, many nongame species too

• wildlife can cause depredation (eating crops)

  • deer, raccoons, small rodents, blackbirds, coyotes, javelina, snow geese

  • any species when super abundant

Depredation Management

• Scare devices for waterfowl

  • lure crops

• Blackbirds

  • grackle, cowbird, red-winged blackbirds, starlings, crows

  • can destroy a lot of a crop

  • animal damage control

  • aversion conditioning

    • chemically treated food makes animal sick

  • scare devices

    • ribbons, noisemakers

• For deer depredation of crops

  • some farmers more tolerant of damage than others

  • what is the true cost in $$ of the damage?

  • is damage widespread or localized?

  • What is the cost benefit?

  • Deer damage in Northeast

    • 640 million in one year

  • Deer as recreational resources

    • hunting opportunities

    • lease revenues

Adverse Effects on Wildlife

• Soybean impact esophagi of geese

  • dry bans that are ingested soak up moisture and swell causing impaction

• Fungal infection from molding crops

• Movement/Behavior changes

  • “short stopping” geese

  • waste corn from mechanical pickers

  • increase hunting mortality for birds flying farther south

    • extirpated subpopulation

Erosion and Sedimentation

• Faulty agricultural practices lead to soil erosion, which leads to sedimentation

• Turbidity degrades water quality

  • fishes, mussels, decreased euphoric zone

Farming Practices

• Soil Conservation Service established in 1935 (SCS)

• Now Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

• Shelterbelts in 1930’s

  • to protect wind blown soils

  • add diversity to prairies

  • artificial habitat in an artificial agricultural landscape

    • not native prairie with wooded riparian zones

• Odd areas, roadsides, field borders

  • corners of circular irrigation fields

  • roadsides planted in grass-legume mix for pheasants

    • prairie vegetation along railroad rights-of-way

    • wildlife near roads?

  • timing of mowing important

Tillage

• Traditional tillage

  • fall plowing

    • over winters with no cover value

  • soil exposed over winter

  • spring disking

  • planting

    • cultivation to control weeds

  • harvest

  • repeated plowing can create hardpan

• No-till, reduced tillage, conservation tillage

  • leave crop residue after harvest

    • no fall flowing

  • plant through residue with seed drill in spring

    • less plowing—reduced fuel by 80-90%

    • less soil disturbance

    • less soil erosion and less dust

    • more water infiltration

    • more herbicides and insecticides

  • can increase disease, rodent problems

  • can delay planing in spring because soil doesn’t warm as quickly

Tillage Affects on Wildlife

• Traditional

  • early duck nests in stubble field destroyed when disked

  • early mowing destroys nests, kills fawns

• No till

  • duck production increased because no disking (and other species)

Corn and soybeans

• Waste grain after mechanical pickers

• most wildlife damage near edges

• crops provide some cover but limited in season

Legislation

• Legislation to control surpluses

  • Agricultural Act of 1956—Soil Bank

    • 5 to 10 year agreements to set aside land

      • required plant cover

      • SD pheasant population nearly doubled

• Cropland Adjustment Program — CAP

  • 1965 Farm Bill

  • Set aside—required planting grasses or legumes instead of crops

  • Increased duck production compared with crop fields

    • good nesting habitat

    • dense cover reduced predation

    • showed good cover is better than predator control

    • bottom-up!!

• Food Security Act (Farm Bill) 1985

  • Conservation Reserve Program—CRP

    • 10 year agreement

    • farmers must establish and maintain cover

      • grasses to trees, but cannot be harvested commercially

      • mowing and grazing prohibited, but can be hunted

    • Government pays annual rent and 50% of establishment costs

      • rental payments determined by accepted bid

    • estimate a gain of 12 million ducks

    • Pheasants increased locally

      • nesting cover increased

Farm Bills

• Swamp Buster, Sod Buster

  • Farmers lose federal subsidies if they drain wetlands or plow untitled land

  • Keeps marginal land from coming into production and thereby increasing surpluses

• Amendments in 1990 and 1996

  • Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP)

  • Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP)

    • local level for critical need species

• New Farm Bill every 6 years

• 2016 1.1 million acres enrolled in 34 states—increased to 1.86 million acres

EQUIP

• Environmental Quality Incentives Program — EQUIP (2022 reauthorized)

  • cost sharing to farmers and ranchers that promote agriculture and environmental quality

  • together, NRCS and producers invest in solutions that conserve natural resources for the future while also improving agricultural operations

Others

• Grassland Reserve Program

• Healthy Forest Reserve Program

  • recovery for T&E species, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration

• Wetland Reserve Program

  • protect, restore, and enhance wetlands

• Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program

Integrated Pest Management

• Combination of chemical, biological, and cultural techniques

  • set action thresholds

  • monitor and identify pests

  • Prevention

    • crop rotation, cultural methods, pest-resistant

  • Control

    • proper balance of control and risk