- Author: Jeffrey P Mitchell
September 23, 2020
A video transcript of the Healthy Soils Healthy Profits - How do we get to $2.50/lb cotton in the SJV? webinar that was held on September 17, 2020 is now available at You Tube at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEm8pjbbnaE&feature=youtu.be
More activities and information related to soil health in cotton production systems are now being planned. Stay tuned!
/span>- Author: Jeffrey P Mitchell
September 12, 2010
Dairy silage fields under no-till and strip-till are some of the only annual cropping systems in California that address the important soil health principle of generating and preserving surface residues. While most annual crop fields are without residues due to intensive tillage practices that essentially make them disappear completely, no-till and strip-till silage farmers are achieving this key soil care practice that is otherwise ignored in most fields in the state.
- Author: Jeffrey P Mitchell
Getting ahead of marketplace demands – What farmers can do -
August 31, 2020 https://youtu.be/Ot1KSrfsfLA
“Last fall, I participated in the National Sustainable Agriculture Summit in Indianapolis, IN,” says Jeff Mitchell, Cropping Systems Cooperative Extension Specialist with the University of California, Davis.
This was a very large gathering of over 650 people representing various sectors of the food system.
One of the main messages in the keynote address of this meeting that was delivered by Patricia Stroup, Vice President of Nestle, - the largest buyer and seller of food in the world was that “if you want to sell your food to us, you'll meet our specifications.”
A rather blunt warning to farmers about how they do things.
“And I don't know how far along it's gotten,” Mitchell adds, “but there are now apparently efforts under way in Europe mandating an increase in organic agriculture to 20%, along with a 50% reduction in pesticide use and 20% less fertilizer use by 2030.”
“I know a farmer though, who is quite fond of saying that he doesn't want to be told how he should farm.”
He is quite literally way out ahead of these sorts of supply chain, or for that matter, government pressured that are now beginning to be seen.
It is not at all exaggerating to say that buyers are ‘beating a pathway to his farm' because they want to buy what he grows.
He is beyond being pressured.
The question of what farmers may start to do to be ahead of marketplace demands is what will be discussed in a public webinar that will be held on September 17th from 9 AM to noon.
A $10 registration fee to offset meeting coordination expenses and to support the long-term research work in Five Points may be paid by registering early at https://ucanr.edu/sjvcottonwebinar
Cotton growing following soil health management practices of reduced disturbance and surface residue preservation, Five Points, CA
- Author: Jeffrey P Mitchell
July 7, 2020
“Generating and preserving surface residues on the soil – despite being one of the core principles of just about all of the soil health movements and government programs these days – has had very little play in most agricultural fields in California now for nearly ninety years.” That stark assertion come from experienced Cropping Systems Extension Specialist and leader of the State's Conservation Agriculture Center, Jeff Mitchell, who's been in the trenches tinkering with systems that couple residue-preserving and reduced disturbance practices for nearly 30 years.
“The body of research knowledge and experiences on the values of high residue systems is enormous,” Mitchell says, “ and yet most folks in California have not come around to them.” Scientific theory supports the role of residues in reducing soil water evaporation and weed emergence, cooling the soil, and increasing soil carbon gain. “And this theoretical underpinning is now guiding our expanded work with high residue systems to better understand the value they may have in improving biodiversity as well as the efficiency of the carbon, nitrogen and water cycles in California's food production systems,” says Mitchell about the new work that is now underway at several farm study sites throughout the State.
Most annual crop fields that you'll drive by in California typically have close to zero residue on them. “Residues are pretty much managed to make them disappear,” Mitchell observes. Yet, several studies from both irrigated and rainfed regions around the US and including our own work in Five Points have shown that when no-tillage is coupled with high residues, annual irrigation savings can be as much as 4 to 5 inches. In several areas including the Central Great Plains of the US, no-till, high residue practices have positively affected agricultural management and local farm economies with both the intensification and diversification of cropping systems. “What we're doing at this point is trying to figure out just how these residue practices might actually work in various California production systems and minimizing risks associated with transitioning to them.”
More information on these types of systems will be shared on July 23rd as part of the Desert Southwest Soil Health Webinar (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/desert-southwest-soil-health-webinar-tickets-107732693386), slated for July 23rd from 8 AM through 6 PM.
Accompanying photo caption
High residue, no-tillage and cover cropped surface soil conditions achieved in 21-year conservation agriculture research study in Five Points, CA showing the extent of residue cover that can be achieved when these practices are coupled together.
- Author: Jeffrey P Mitchell
Information on the dynamics of long-term use of winter cover crops in California's San Joaquin Valley will be shared with online participants as part of the Desert Southwest Soil Health Webinar (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/desert-southwest-soil-health-webinar-tickets-107732693386), slated for July 23rd from 8 AM through 6 PM.
“This will be one of the first outlets in which we'll share our 20-year findings on both the costs and benefits of using cover crops to improve agroecosystem biodiversity and the efficiencies of the C, N, and water cycles in SJV annual cropping systems,” says UC ANR's Jeff Mitchell, whose presentation on conservation agriculture falls in the 10:30 AM – 3:00 PM “Practices to improve soil health,” slot on the day-long program.
Mitchell will describe how over the course of the project that was characterized by recurring drought, a total of 37 tons of aboveground cover crop biomass representing 1580 lbs N and 14.8 tons C per acre was produced with a total precipitation of 127 inches and 16 inches of supplemental irrigation in that was applied in four of the years. These inputs averaged 3,695 lbs of organic matter or 0.79 tons of C annually. Year-to-year variability was quite large ranging from 8,818 lbs OM in 2000 when supplemental irrigation was applied, to 54 lbs/ac in 2007 when, as in most years, no irrigation was applied to the cover crops. The cover crops were typically seeded by November 15 and terminated around March 15 of the following year accounting for a growth period of 120 days capturing solar energy by the “green ground cover”, and living roots in the soil for about 90 additional days during the year relative to the standard practice system which was bare during this time. Based on cover crop growth during years when supplemental irrigation was applied, Mitchell estimates that an average of 6,082 lbs of dry cover crop biomass might have been produced with a modest input of 2 inches of water. Even greater amounts of cover crop biomass – approximately 12,000 lbs of dry matter per acre as is typically achieved with winter silage triticale crops in SJV dairies - could be produced were cover crops “treated more like cash crops” with additional supplemental strategically timed irrigation in a cropping system as in other regions of the US. He'll also be showing participants via recorded video clips just how this sort of sustained cover crop use improves key soil health indicator properties and function.
CCA and PCA credit for the online webinar have been requested.
Photo caption
Image_0320
UC ANR Cropping Systems Extension Specialist, Jeff Mitchell, shown sampling winter cover crop aboveground biomass in longstanding conservation agriculture study of the impacts of reduced disturbance, cover crops, and surface residues on soil function, productivity, and ecosystem services at the Conservation Agriculture Systems study site in Five Points, CA
New data on cover crops to be presented July 23rd!