Every Acre Counts program seeks stronger soil health for better crop yields, Lake Mitchell watershed

Aug. 11—MITCHELL — When Craig Stehly hosted a group of farmers on his land west of Mitchell on Wednesday, Aug. 9, there were two things on the top of his mind.

One was about farming — healthy soil is the linchpin that can make or break crop yields and significantly affect food prices. That's what he told farmer. The other one was ecological — soil health is important to the state of Lake Mitchell's quality and Firesteel Creek's watershed.

The farmers gathered for a tour around Every Acre Counts, a program designed to assist South Dakota producers with getting the most out of land that doesn't have a strong history of ag production due to poor soil quality.

"We've degraded the soil now to the point where we're making this big push globally to get the soil healthy for the next generation," said Craig Stehly. "Soil health is really important for the future of mankind."

As an example, farmers were taken to two different holes each dug a foot into the soil, which acted as X-rays into the layers of the ground. At the first hole, a layer of white salt coated the top of the ground, like a bit of desert. The soil underneath was light brown, cracking into little, brick-like clods when picked up in the hand. In that sort of soil, crop yields wither — halved, in some cases, Stehly said.

The next hole seemed to be worlds apart, although lying only a few hundred yards away. There, the ground was a dark, rich brown, as water pooled at the bottom of the two-foot deep hole. The soil crumbled in a demonstrator's hand, his boots squelching a bit as he maneuvered himself in and out of the hole. The soil is flourishing. So too are crop yields in similar soil.

Stehly is part of the Every Acre Counts program, which has agriculture experts from South Dakota State University Extension, Pheasants Forever, the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, among other programs. Those experts utilize use electronic equipment that measures soil health, producing heat maps of cropland that can show farmers, like Stehly, which areas have soil that will yield larger crop returns.

In farming terms, soil health sets the ceiling for the amount of crops a field can yield, Stehly said. That's because soil acts like a bank when it's in good shape, storing up nutrients and water that are vital to maximizing plant growth.

"If you don't have efficient soil that can raise crops, you're going to have food that's horribly expensive or hard to get."

A primary cause of unhealthy soil is a long-time farming practice known as tilling, which involves turning the top of the soil to prepare for crop planting, and has been around for centuries. But many soil health experts say that it's destructive, eventually causing soil that looks like the chalky white salt-covered soil seen at the first hole.

That's because tilling interferes with the soil's ability to absorb water deep into its layers. When healthy, water runs through tiny vertical channels in the soil created by an ecosystem housed within the ground. When it rains, water runs down the channels, binding to the soil with the help of a fungus called glomalin, that acts like glue to trap the water. It stores up like a bank, to be used in times of drought.

When the top layer is tilled, those water channels are destroyed, like closing cave tunnels at their entrances. Then when it rains, water isn't absorbed into tilled fields. It can either run off or it can sit in place; both present problems.

If it sits, it will eventually seep into the ground and evaporate. But water is filled with salt, which stunts crop development. When it dries up eventually, it leaves a residual film of salt on the land, as well as causing salt to seep into the soil.

But unchecked runoff caused by poor soil health also has consequences. The algae that coats Lake Mitchell is one consequence, Stehly said.

"Soil health is imperative for Lake Mitchell — its watershed is 350,000 acres. All that would flow into the Firesteel Creek," Stehly said.

One technique of combating runoff and healing saline-infused soil, is planting a layer of buffering perennial grasses to surround crop fields. Although not yielding profit themselves, they grow thick, stopping runoff water from crops — heavy in fertilizer — from going into the watershed.

Stanley Leipf is a farmer who was in attendance on Wednesday and said he is taking away the need to grow perennials back to his farm.

"We've been considering it for a while now but this just confirmed it," he said.

Leipf is a farmer from a Hutterite Colony near Winfred, located between Howard and Madison.

He said that his farm has a "significant" amount of low-yield, low-absoprtion spots that could be helped by the use of perennials.

But perennials also rejuvenate salty soil over time, said Cristin Weber, a conservation specialist for Pheasants Forever. She said that over time, because perennial plants suck salt out of the soil, eventually making it good to go for cash-earning crops.

"This has to do with future generations," Stehly said. "Soil health is really an important thing for the future of mankind."