Soil Health

Digging Deeper – More Than Trash – Why Residue Matters
More Than Trash – Why Residue Matters breaks down how residue from each crop impacts soil nitrogen availability. The resource explores key questions related to decomposition of residue, soil microbial activity, and why certain crop rotations require more N fertilizer than others. Ever wonder how soybean residue influences nitrogen availability for the next crop? Check out this resource to answer this question and many more!
To explore more resources, visit ISAP’s Digging Deeper page to access more soil health focused resources. The Digging Deeper series skips the basics, and digs right into the issues at hand. These resources provide detailed science-backed information for farmers and their advisors.
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Field Day Toolkit
This Field Day Toolkit is the product of Iowa Learning Farms’ many years of planning and hosting field day events across the state of Iowa. While ILF utilizes many different outreach approaches, the importance of farmer-to-farmer interactions cannot be overstated. Field days do matter!
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Dairy Conservation Navigator
Dairy Conservation Navigator is an online platform that consolidates science-based information about dairy conservation topics and the practices and technologies that reduce a farm’s environmental footprint. Created by the U.S. Dairy Checkoff, the platform simplifies complex sustainability topics by sharing educational materials and technical insights.
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Digging Deeper: A Comparison Between Standard Soil Tests and the Haney Soil Health Test
The Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership (ISAP) has released our comparison guide showing the similarities and differences between a standard soil fertility test and the Haney Soil Health Test.
Based the increasing interest among agronomists and farmers alike, ISAP created this resource to dive into some of the finer points of the Haney test and try to help clarify how this test compares to the standard soil fertility test that farmers have been familiar with for decades.
This resource is designed to help agriculturists gain some additional insight into some of the concepts of soil management that often go undiscussed or simply ignored in traditional production systems in Illinois.

Illinois Cover Crop Quick Reference Guide
The Illinois Cover Crop Initiative (ICCI) created this general overview of planting information for common cover crops.
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Cover Crop Seeding Methods Guide
Making cover crop seeding decisions can be a complicated process. ISAP developed the Cover Crop Seeding guide to help producers understand the benefits and considerations of various cover crop application methods. The Cover Crop Seeding guide gives an overview of nine cover crop seeding techniques.
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