Measuring success in DD

[Rob Kearney]

Without getting too complicated, i wondered how you are measuring success with your DD/No-till operations. Obviously it is based on the individuals own objectives!
(i apologize if this has been covered before)

 

[Clive]

annual accounts !

 

[Rob Kearney]

annual accounts !

Clive, you appear to have made a success of it, there must be some KPI's or areas that you can say, we are getting better at that or we have gained more consistency in production etc?

 

[Clive]

Clive, you appear to have made a success of it, there must be some KPI's or areas that you can say, we are getting better at that or we have gained more consistency in production etc?

financial performance is what really matters

but yes, I also look at infiltration rates and do a lot of visual soil inspection, colour, smell, worm numbers, erosion event frequency, wildlife, drought tolerance etc. yield is an easy metric as well

I have got OM and zoned soil mapping for the entire farm and some biological tests like Solvita etc ................... but quite a honestly I'm not sure how much use they really are

I know its not the answer that science or researchers really wants but most of it really is observational and "feel" Farming is as much an art as a science in this respect

 

[Farmer Ben]

Since starting direct drilling to where you are now how much has the organic matter changed?

 

[Clive]

Since starting direct drilling to where you are now how much has the organic matter changed?

that depended on whose test you believe ................. excuse the pun but both sampling and measuring OM accurately and consistently is a big can of worms!

if you pushed me for a number I would suggest 0.2% per year...............approximately

 

[Farmer Ben]

Interesting topic with so many variables. Do you find any particular practice builds more organic matter?

 

[Clive]

Interesting topic with so many variables. Do you find any particular practice builds more organic matter?

can't nail it down to any particular thing really, compost, cover crops and not selling straw all help

 

[Farmer Ben]

Many thanks. I'd like to crack the science before I enter the DD world, not sure this will help that much but will help me to make informed decisions. Very much appreciate the concept and my soils would benefit from more organic matter.

 

[Clive]

Many thanks. I'd like to crack the science before I enter the DD world, not sure this will help that much but will help me to make informed decisions. Very much appreciate the concept and my soils would benefit from more organic matter.

you will be waiting a long time for science to be able to fully explain soil !!

 

[Banana Bar]

Many thanks. I'd like to crack the science before I enter the DD world, not sure this will help that much but will help me to make informed decisions. Very much appreciate the concept and my soils would benefit from more organic matter.

I’m 50 in June, I haven’t enough time left to crack the science on soil. I do believe as Clive says it is more about a feel and observation of what is right. Accounts ultimately tell the truth.

 

[Farmer Ben]

Think you’ve misunderstood. The science behind building organic matter. Some crops/materials will build this faster. I’m not talking of a magic pill but making the right choice will increase the chances of success.

 

[Clive]

Think you’ve misunderstood. The science behind building organic matter. Some crops/materials will build this faster. I’m not talking of a magic pill but making the right choice will increase the chances of success.

if you always remember that carbon is the product of water, air and sunlight and then aim to maximise your capture of all 3 on every acre then you will build SOM. as fast as possible

to speed things up bring in carbon from outside sources like compost and FYM where you can get it

 

[Farmer Ben]

Do you find your soils are capable of infiltrating more rainfall? Due to the increased organic matter. Do you have field drainage? Have you noticed a difference with how excess water is removed?

 

[ajd132]

Do you find your soils are capable of infiltrating more rainfall? Due to the increased organic matter. Do you have field drainage? Have you noticed a difference with how excess water is removed?

Don’t drive Randomly, don’t drive on it when it’s wet, return straw, grow cover crops, balance C:N ratios, use muck if you can get it, don’t cultivate and if you do only minimal.
there’s a million and one companies jumping on the soil health wagon trying to sell you all manner of tests and precision farming stuff to measure it, it’s mostly all pointless BS just go with you’re intuition and gut feeling as the others have said before. A healthy soil is very obvious.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Think you’ve misunderstood. The science behind building organic matter. Some crops/materials will build this faster. I’m not talking of a magic pill but making the right choice will increase the chances of success.

Diversity, diversity, diversity

Soil is losing C all the time
Plants and fungi are putting it in again, the more inward flows you create the wealthier your soil will be - it's just like your bank account, if you specialise then you're missing out

The main inward flow is via root exudates so perennials generally beat annuals as there is no break in the food supply to the soil biota.

Try to use more polycultures than monocultures, especially with covercrops; an array of root structures put the sugars at different depths and effectively makes your topsoil deeper

Don't remove anything you don't have to.
Don't use any more N than you have to.
Think conservation rather than production and production begins to cost less and less over time

 

[Warnesworth]

Think you’ve misunderstood. The science behind building organic matter. Some crops/materials will build this faster. I’m not talking of a magic pill but making the right choice will increase the chances of success.

IME it’s the execution of the various practices that make the difference. For example just planting a cover crop is not enough, it’s the detail and management that breeds change and success.

 

[yellow belly]

long term return on investment and cash in the bank

the more years a field has been in notill the easier and better it gets
wet places get smaller and ruts get shallower they were bigger and deeper in 2001 and 2012 when we discordoned than they are this year and even deeper in the 1990s when we ploughed

on heavy land it is hard to measure like with like under the same weather
the easiest is to measure the number of worm cast