The Problem: Our growing world population and the reduction in agricultural land/quality farmable soil are not a sustainable combination. Our food producer--the farmer—daily faces increasingly high costs for water, fertilizer, and implements to grow crops while simultaneously facing declining yields and damaged soil. Soil remediation has become an urgent issue....
Blog
EcoGEM hires Chief Operating Officer
EcoGEM hires Chief Operating Officer David Martin has joined EcoGEM as its Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Martin brings 25 years of operating experience in food and agriculture companies. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Operations at Essentia Protein Solutions, the world’s largest producer of meat ingredients and functional proteins...
Using Gypsum to Grow Better Alfalfa
Alfalfa is a popular forage crop grown across the world. To grow better alfalfa, farmers must manage soil conditions and nutrition well. EcoGEM® gypsum can help. It improves soil structure and provides calcium and sulfur. Alfalfa is well-adapted to the intermountain west’s climate and soils. In the drier, sunnier conditions,...
The Calcium Cycle in Agriculture [Infographic]
Inspired by his previous work explaining The Calcium Cycle, we partnered again with Dr. Davidson to create an infographic explaining the calcium cycle in agriculture. Since calcium plays a critical role as a crop nutrient and as a soil amendment, farmers who understand the natural cycle can better manage the calcium in their soils. (Click...
Is Irrigation Harming Your Soil? The Relationship Between Water Quality and Soil Health
Understanding Water Quality Problems and How Gypsum Can Help Solve Them In a new report, Dr. Brent Rouppet, Ph.D., explores how your irrigation water can harm your soil, even when you think it is helping your plants. Learn more about your soil's chemistry, how the irrigation water is damaging the...
Are California Farmers Water Hogs?
In his commentary in the Wall Street Journal, California Farmers Aren't the Water Hogs, Ted Sheely discusses the blame farmers are asked to take for the water shortage in California. Sheely, a farmer himself in California's San Joaquin Valley, argues that the media is not reporting the full picture. The...
Getting the most from your gypsum application
Correcting poor soil structure conditions with an application of gypsum can have a significant impact on soil tilth and crop yields. However, many producers overlook this practice because they are not aware of the benefits to soil structure as well as a readily available source of calcium and sulfur. One...
Yellowing of crop leaves? It could be iron chlorosis.
Gypsum can help remediate iron chlorosis. Iron chlorosis is a yellowing of plant leaves caused by iron deficiency. However it is not always a true iron deficiency but rather an iron tie-up in plants and soil. Yellow leaves indicate a lack of chlorophyll, the green pigment responsible for photosynthesis (sugar...
The multiple benefits of gypsum in agriculture
If considering a purchase of calcium sulfate dihydrate (gypsum), it is important to understand the many varied benefits and when they take effect in agriculture. As both a soil amendment and a crop nutrient source, gypsum will remediate sodic soils, help manage saline irrigation waters, provide calcium and sulfur as crop...
Organic growers take note: there is such a thing as organic gypsum
Can gypsum be applied on organic farms? Commercial farmers, organic growers, home owners, turf managers and others can benefit from application of gypsum (calcium sulfate) in remediating salinity and sodium issues and improving soil structure. However they can’t all use the same sources or gypsum for all garden soils. Mined...