A team of university and NRCS professionals from the North Central region are examining the current state of the science related to manure's impact on soil health. Several of their blog posts have been previously featured in CropWatch and below are links to two of their most recent articles. Visit their website at http://soilhealthnexus.org/category/manure/ to access other articles and information.

Can Manure Improve Soil Health?

Authors: Teng Lim, Donna Brandt, Allen Haipeng Wang, Saranya Norkaew, and Randy Miles, University of Missouri.

Is there a correlation between soil health (or soil productivity) and manure? A Missouri team analyzed many soil health related variables and manure land application details, based on data collected under the Missouri Cover Crop Cost-Share Program and experimental plots. Continue reading…

Soil Quality Impacts of Agricultural and Municipal Biosolids Applications

Authors: Linda Schott and Amy Schmidt, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Soil health management refers to the preservation and improvement in soil physical, chemical, and biological properties to maximize the productive capacity of soil. Soil amendments such as application of livestock manure and municipal biosolids have received less attention as a soil health improvement practice. A literature review was conducted to summarize and discuss results of studies. Continue reading…