Soil Fertility

All Soil Fertility Content

Salt-impacted field recovering, with active plant life growing throughout.

The Power of Living Roots

Learn how living roots improve soil structure and can be used as a tool to fix marginal lands with salty soil conditions.

Anthony Bly, SDSU Extension Soils Field Specialist, receiving an award on-stage at the 2022 Soil Health Conference.

Anthony Bly Receives Friend of Soil Health Award

May 16, 2022

Anthony Bly, SDSU Extension Soils Field Specialist, received the 2022 Friend of Soil Heath Award at the 2022 Soil Health Conference.

Tilled field with signs of erosion along the field edge.

The Costs of Erosion: Topsoil’s Role in Food Security

The thin layer of topsoil covering our earth sustains almost all of the life we know. Learn some answers to common questions about protecting it from erosion.

A man inspecting a field with salty soil.

Perennial Solutions for Alkali Areas

Reclaiming marginal lands, especially those considered saline or sodic can be very challenging and may take many years to accomplish. The key to turning around salt or alkali areas in your fields, begins with getting a living root established in the affected area.

A farmer watching the sun rise in a bare, unplanted field.

Crop Tolerance to Soil Herbicide Residual

Some herbicides can persist in soil, especially dry soil. Herbicide carryover could be an issue in 2021 across the state depending upon last year’s moisture levels and field conditions.

Three soybean fields with yellowing issues due to potassium deficiency, iron deficiency chlorosis and soybean cyst nematode.

What Is Causing Soybeans to Yellow at This Time?

Recently scouted soybean fields were observed with yellowing plants, and one field was found to have plants dying prematurely. Learn some of the factors that may cause soybean plants to yellow at this time in the growing season.

Harvested cornfield in winter.

SDSU Extension to Host Winter Agronomy Road Show

January 14, 2022

SDSU Extension will offer in-person agronomy clinics this winter at four different locations across the state. Kicking off Jan. 28 in Aberdeen, each location will have content that is customized to growers and agribusiness professionals in that area.

Field pea cover crop blend growing in a field of corn residue.

Midwest Cover Crops Council Releases Third Edition Cover Crops Field Guide

November 29, 2021

Cover crops are used to slow erosion, improve soil health and capture nutrients. From planting to termination, growers face many production decisions, however.

Tanks of anhydrous ammonia being pulled to a field for fertilizer application.

Determining an Economically Optimal Nitrogen Rate for Corn in 2022

While we can't know what the prices of corn and nitrogen fertilizer will be next year, it is very important to understand how the level of both prices will influence corn profitability for 2022.

Female producer holding a soil core sampling probe in a harvested soybean field.

Fall Soil Sampling

With fertilizer prices on the rise, it’s more important than ever to understand your soil test levels and crop response to applied fertilizers. Fall is a great time to soil sample before freeze up.