3 results for tag: Soil Health


Climate Change and Agriculture: How are they connected and what’s to be done?

What is climate change and how does it work? We’ve all heard the phrase “climate change,” but what does that phrase mean? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines climate change as “a long-term (decades to centuries) change in any of a number of environmental conditions for a given place and time—such as temperature, rainfall, humidity, cloudiness, wind, and air circulation patterns.” So any shift in weather patterns lasting for a prolonged period of time can be called climate change. Today most people who say “climate change” are referring to the steady well-documented increases in Earth’s temperature ...

Using Soil to Slow Climate Change

The economic demands on farmers and ranchers to maximize production on their land can inadvertently lead to damaging the soil. Unhealthy soil stores less carbon and depends on an increased use of chemicals and fertilizers which in turn can increase pollution and loss of soil to erosion. The good news is that the stewardship and determination of today’s agricultural producers can help solve these problems. And, under the 2020 Oregon Climate Action Plan, there is an opportunity right now to set ambitious new goals to address soil health and combat climate change.   Soil Health and Carbon Sequestration Soil health is a term used to describe a ...

Healthy Soil, Healthy Oregon

Plants need nutrients in order to provide us with the food and fiber we need to survive. And while farmers are cost-conscious, over 50% of the fertilizer applied to major U.S. crops washes out as runoff or leaches into our water supply. The result is wasted money for farmers, contaminated drinking water and increased incidence of toxic algae blooms in our rivers, lakes and streams. Unused nitrogen fertilizer that leaches into groundwater or washes into streams can lead to nitrate pollution in drinking water from wells and eutrophication and hypoxic zones in freshwater and coastal waters. The human and environmental health concerns about nitrogen ...