overgrazing

Dale Helwig, K-State Ag and Natural Resources agent in Cherokee County presented at the Southeast Research and Extension Beef and Forage Field Day in Parsons on August 4, 2023.  He talked about management decisions while pastures are in drought conditions.  To view the slide presentation that goes with this audio please go to the Southeast Research and Extension YouTube channel (@KansasStateUniversitySEREC).

On today's farm update I'll be talking about how I think I am overstocked on the farm, and the recycled and new methods I am using to try and take advantage of all the forage on the whole property.  Plus more....

More Places You Can Listen to Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald:

In today's podcast we look at the synergistic collaboration between a soil scientist and a pecan farmer.
Southern New Mexico is not an ideal landscape for pecans, which grow best in warm, wet climates. But the industry is here, and Josh Bowman has determined to grow a healthy and abundant crop by focusing on the soil. Using cover crops and grazing animals, he's been able to increase the life and organic matter in the soil, and to produce a greater yield and a higher quality nut—while using less water.
David Johnson was a contractor who at mid-life decided to change careers and became a microbiologist, specializing in the soil microbiome. He collaborates with farmers like Bowman to increase the quality—and quantity—of the soil with an eye not only to improved health and profits for the farmer, but also to climate change mitigation as carbon is sequestered in ever-healthier soils. Johnson and his wife Hui-Chun Su developed the Johnson-Su bioreactor, a composting system that yields a potent, microbe-rich compost that is a soil-friendly and cost-effective alternative to synthetic fertilizers.

Unfortunately, dust bowls are not just relics of the past. Today two new dust bowls are forming: one in northern China and southern Mongolia and the other in Africa south of the Sahara. Whereas the dust bowls in the United States and the Soviet Union were the result of overplowing, the main culprit in Asia and Africa is overgrazing.