​​Achieving Soil Health in Cotton Production Systems

December 2017 | 14 min., 38 sec.
by Alan Franzluebbers
USDA-ARS

Summary

​Agricultural production systems are continuously evolving to meet the demands of society. Making farming systems more sustainable in the eyes of the public may be good for addressing environmental quality issues, but is it good for production? This presentation will help consultants, growers, and other practitioners in the Southern U.S. cotton-producing states understand the science underlying soil health and help to demystify how to achieve healthy soil. Farmers and consultants will be introduced to the important processes in soil that comprise a healthy soil, a few key indicators for evaluating soil health, and some modeled and field results showing the value of no-till and cover crops on soil organic carbon and soil biological activity. In the end, practitioners will have a greater appreciation for how conservation agricultural management systems can be a model for balancing the perceived dichotomy between productivity and environmental quality.

About the Presenter

Alan FranzluebbersAlan Franzluebbers is a Research Ecologist with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service in Raleigh NC. He serves as USDA Professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at North Carolina State University. Research is being conducted on soil ecology and management for development of more sustainable agricultural systems. Biological soil quality methods and soil organic carbon sequestration are tools often used to interpret the effects of management on soil resources. Recent areas of research are in multi-species cover cropping, agroforestry, integrated crop-livestock systems, nitrogen management, and conservation-tillage cropping. Alan recently served as Chair of the Croplands Research Group of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases. He is the ARS-lead of the USDA Southeast Region Climate Hub. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Soil Science Society of America and has been awarded Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America, the American Society of Agronomy, and the Soil and Water Conservation Society. He received BS and MS degrees from the University of Nebraska and PhD from Texas A&M University.

Contact Information:
Email: Alan.Franzluebbers@ars.usda.gov

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