Tag Archives: soil

Building Healthy Soils –Julia W. Gaskin @ SOGALO15 2015-01-24

Crops need soils with organic matter, as a UGA soil specialist reminds us.

Healthy soils are fundamental to growing crops sustainably. The key to heathy soils is organic matter because organic matter is so important for microorganisms and the other soil creatures. Most of our agricultural soil have very low soil organic matter from years of farming. It can be a challenge to increase organic matter in South Georgia with its sandy soils and hot, humid climate, but it can be done. Come learn basic principles of soil management and strategies for you to improve your soil health.

Julia Gaskin is the Continue reading →

Advanced sheets-Field operations of the Bureau of Soils, 1917

What was your county like a hundred years ago, roads, houses, streams, ponds, and soils? Digital Library of Georgia in association with the University of Georgia Map Library has made available old soil maps from around 1910-1920 online in a viewer that can pan and zoom. Detail of Cat Creek Road, Lowndes County, Georgia in 1917:

Detail of Cat Creek Road

Detail of Cat Creek Road
John S. Quarterman, Gretchen Quarterman, Brown Dog, Yellow Dog,
Screenshot by John S. Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 13 July 2012.

The soils haven't changed much (Tf is Tifton A soil, for example), but the roads and houses have, and many streams have been dammed for ponds.

They seem to have all Georgia counties. Here's Tift County in 1910 and Cook County in 1931.

-jsq

Owed to Don Davis of the Lowndes County Museum at the 11 July 2012 WWALS Watershed Coalition meeting.

 

Fewer pesticides for higher yields: if they can do it in west Africa…

According to the U.N. F.A.O.:
West African farmers have succeeded in cutting the use of toxic pesticides, increasing yields and incomes and diversifying farming systems as a result of an international project promoting sustainable farming practices.

Around 100 000 farmers in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal are participating in a community-driven training programme (West African Regional Integrated Production and Pest Management (IPPM) Programme) executed by FAO.

Here’s the problem they are addressing: Continue reading →

France Rounds Up Monsanto

France Finds Monsanto Guilty of Lying:
France’s highest court has ruled that U.S. agrochemical giant Monsanto had not told the truth about the safety of its best-selling weed-killer, Roundup. The court confirmed an earlier judgment that Monsanto had falsely advertised its herbicide as “biodegradable” and claimed it “left the soil clean.”
It’s about time some court decided that. Now let’s hear some U.S. court say the same thing.

Maybe with more of a fine than this:

The company was fined 15,000 euros (£13,800; $22,400).
Oh, wait:
Earlier this month, Monsanto reported a fourth quarter loss of $233m (£147m), driven mostly by a drop in sales of its Roundup brand.
Now that’s getting closer to an appropriate size. Largely driven by the state of the economy no doubt. How about a court-imposed fine of that size or larger? Monsanto has a market cap of $43.6 billion so larger would be appropriate.