One of the concerns today is that soils are being degraded by intensive agricultural production, salinity or contamination. Soil degradation can be generally defined as a decline in soil quality caused by its improper and unsustainable use. Soil degradation is slowly becoming a serious global problem and is exacerbated by...
What is soil?
A pretty basic question for the ground under our feet. Plus, Dr. Dan Davidson explains Calcium Compartmentalization below. What is Soil? By Dr. Dan Davidson, Agronomist & Farmer When you pick up a hand full of soil did you ever think about what it contains? Soil contains minerals, organic matter,...
Building The Perfect Soil
Farmers want a good soil. But after decades of farming, they are left with a soil that is anything but perfect. Intensive crop production with tillage, pesticides, nutrient removal, erosion and soil degradation have left them with a less than perfect soil. However, even seemingly perfect soils do not stay...
How Do I Know If I Have Dispersive Soils That Need Gypsum?
Soils containing dispersible clays can be problem soils. A dispersible clay is a clay that does not stay stable when wetted, but slakes or disperses easily. The major problem with dispersed clay is that it can block soil pores and reduce water permeability. The fine clay also acts as a...
Understanding the Calcium Cycle
Most minerals important to biological life follow a natural cycle that tracks how they enter the soil and their fate once there. Understanding these cycles is important because it helps you manage the mineral and influence the way it interacts with other factors on the farm. Let's take a look...
How Does Gypsum Remediate Saline And Sodic Soils?
How does gypsum help? One of the most popular and best-known uses of gypsum is in reclaiming saline and sodic soils and remediating irrigation waters high in sodium salts. In the southwestern U.S. (California and Arizona), Rio Grande valley and other parts of the world, soils and irrigation water can...