Plants Dig Soil™

For this month, my article focuses on rotation. It’s hard to quantify but the effects of it are real. With weather, markets, and geopolitical risks all very real concerns this year a good rotation adds stability. No one...

Discussion of two recent magazine articles that I wrote. One article looks at pest control through a post-harvest lens — basically treating the season to a post-mortem. The other looks at seed decisions, especially...

Crops take nutrients off the farm. Can food-waste biostimulants bring them back? Are they worth your time and money? In this episode I’ll dig in to nutrient imports, exports, how you can calculate the flows on your...

Soil testing isn’t an expense—it’s an investment. In my latest Better Farming Prairies article, I share how a few dollars per acre in testing can save thousands in fertilizer costs and help you make smarter...

Prairie farmers are skeptical of “soil health” as justanother buzzword — but what if data could make it practical? This episode explores mapping tools, farmer perspectives, and what resilience really looks like in the...

Do you bale your straw or keep it? The basic concept is to ask whether it is helping or hindering you. If baling will remove soil armor and allow rains to erode your land, leave it. If it’s causing issues at seeding...

In this edition I talk about how I evaluate new agricultural practices and tools before recommending them to clients. From the challenges of staying current to the importance of third-party data, I share my approach to...

In this episode, I dive into what I’ve learned from applying organic weed control methods in my own garden—from stale seedbeds to blind cultivation—and how those lessons connect to what I see in prairie agriculture. I...

Are tillage and soil carbon compatible? Agronomist andauthor Scott Gillespie shares insights from his new article Soil Carbon & Tillage: Eat Your Cake and Have it Too.” Also – lessons from polycrop systems, organic...

Do you need livestock to build soil health? Agronomist and author Scott Gillespie digs into recent research on grazing cover crops, biomass thresholds, and fungal networks—challenging some of the more popular narratives...

Plants Dig Soil https://www.plantsdigsoil.com/ Newsletter signup: https://mailchi.mp/plantsdigsoil/newsletter https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6944029544697802752 Practical Regeneration: Realistic Strategies for...

#RealisticRegenAg | Welcome to the final newsletter of the year! As mentioned previously, I’ll be taking a break over the holiday season but will return in early February. If you’re in southern Alberta and would like to...

#RealisticRegenAg | As the season winds down here in southern Alberta, I’ve been busy teaching both diploma and degree students at Lethbridge Polytechnic (formerly Lethbridge College). As is my annual tradition, I’ll be...

#RealisticRegenAg | Cover crops might be giving off more greenhouse gases than bare ground. It's a surprise, for sure. It all comes down to how long they sit in cool and wet conditions. They pull up and hold onto more...

#RealisticRegenAg | White patches in a field are often referred to as alkali patches. The underlying problem may be high pH – alkalinity – but the salt in and of itself is not at a high pH and therefore is not alkaline...