Notes on No-Till on the Plains 2019

In addition to the other sessions I posted separately, I attended several other sessions at NToTP 2019 and took less detailed notes. Here are the notes I have:

David R. Montgomery & Anne Bicklé: Growing a Revolution in our Mind when Ideas Get in our Way

• As recently as 2011 we thought more than 90% of biodiversity was animals.
  • now we think it's 78% bacteria and only 7.3% animals.
  • most species of organisms are endosymbiotic, that is, they live inside other organisms.
• The Semmelweis Reflex: reject new info if it threatens the way you've always done things.
• NPK fertilizer ≠ healthy plants, especially perennials. Lots of vegetative growth aboveground does not bode well for long term health.

Dr. David Johnson: Regenerating the Diversity of Life in Soils

• Addressing symptoms instead of causes leads to unintended consequences.
• What we need is a new model that makes the old model obsolete.
• Selenium is crucial to human health in very small amounts.
  • Selenium deficiencies in the fossil record correlate with otherwise unexplained extinction events.
• Microbes do far more in the human body than we ever imagined.
  • fecal transplants can cure many autoimmune diseases
  • the same thing may work with agricultural soils.
• Agriculture is controlled disturbance. Growing annuals requires a 1:1 fungal:bacterial ratio, but disturbance is necessary to maintain that.
  • Prehistorically this was done by grazing mammals
  • windrow composting increases salinity and destroys the fungal community. static or vermicomposting produces appropriate salinity and F:B ratio.
  • microbial diversity increases as compost matures.
  • as F:B ratio increases, more carbon goes into plant biomass as opposed to soil, because it's no longer needed to grow the fungus.
• "BEAM" = Biologically Enhanced, Actively Managed agriculture
  • increases all beneficial measures, including quorum sensing
  • conventional organic is less productive than chemical ag, but BEAM is much more productive.
  • brought Chihuahuan desert plot from 250 acres per cow to <20 acres/cow.
• Viruses are critical to microbial ecosystems, and we don't begin to know why.
• Instructions for making the compost are on Johnson's YouTube channel. Follow the instructions precisely the first time!

Jay Fuhrer keynote: Cover Your Stuff: Plant Green

• menokenfarm.com : biennial seed mix interplanted into crops. Flea beetle damage where there was no cover crop.
• plant soybean into ryegrass, then terminate the rye. A seed planter needs less downforce when planting into a green crop.
• "Everything through a stomach": sheep and yearling calves together on 21spp perennial pasture.
  • graze off only the top 50% by weight (the most nutritious half)
  • the bottom half gets cut and laid on soil surface as armor.
  • Microbial biomass skyrocketed 4 years after beginning grazing, so be patient.
  • chicken tractor, compost piles with no turning
  • "microbiome digester" worm juice for seed trench innoculant

Grant Sims: Improving Soil & Systems for the Next Generation

• Victoria, Australia, 16" annual rainfall
• early adopters of no-till, early 1980s, phased out chemicals in 2008
• tillage radishes accumulate phosphorus in their root zones
• use disc planters to cut through stubble. Need 100% cover to protect soil life from summer heat.
• Inject rhizobium into soil rather than coating seeds to get more & deeper root nodules.
• use rotary screens to separate polyculture seed crops
• If you don't feel right using seeds that aren't treated, consider compost tea
• most insect diseases are fungal, so broad-spectrum fungicides result in healthier pests!
• set all vehicles to the same wheelbase and drive in the same "tram lines"
  • teach the cows to walk in the tram lines, too