More on Soil Quality
Charles Benbrook (benbrook@hillnet.com)
Sat, 22 Apr 1995 12:38:34 -0400 (EDT)
There is an excellent roundtable discussion of soil quality in the latest
issue of the Leopold Center Newsletter (Vol. 7, No. 1, Spring 1995). It is
entitled "perspectives on Soil Health: A Discussion Among Scientists and
Farmers". It drives home the point that farmers are interested in moving
in the right direction; gaining tools to let them know if they are
slipping; and want to know practical ways to achieve "healthier" soil,
especially to the extent soil health/quality can translate into improved
economic performance. Researchers are more focused on rigorous
definitions that can be studied and tracked using quantitative techniques.
Scientists and farmers agree there are many valid dimensions to soil
quality, and different people, different cultures and societies,
different government agencies, different disciplines may naturally choose
to emphasize one more than others. Everyone has a right to their view and
bias. Everyone agrees that soil quality must be studied in the context of
a system and over long periods of time. It is an excellent discussion. I
am going to try to add it to the soil quality dialogue accessible through
the farmbill web page some of you have accessed a few times:
http://www.hillnet.com/farmbill/
BYT, over a thousand hits on the farmbill page last week. Lots
of positive feedback -- especially for the soil quality and policy
proposal sections.
My favorite passage in the Leopold Center roundtable piece is a
comment by former Pres. of Practical Farmers of Iowa, Tom Frantzen, who said:
"If you'd ask me what I think is the healthiest soil on our farm,
I would tell you that I think I could find it and I would not need my
eyes nor any of my senses other than my ears. You might laugh at this,
but my daughter and I have been out in a chunk of pasture that's been
seeded down for seven years under intensive management. If conditions
are right, I can hear the earthworms."
I am going to add this quote to the web page "Quote of the Week
Section". I for one have also heard worms at work, and can appreciate
this comment.
P.S. rachel -- the same newsletter has a piece on Leopold and
agriculture that I will send you.