Grinnell

Iowa CityWilliamsburg

Washington

Kalona

English River Watershed

Soil Organic Matter

Jason Steele and Kathleen Woida, NRCS-USDA Geologist

Good Aggregate Stability Essential to Healthy Soil

The size of pore spaces between soil particles plays a key role in plant growth.

One of the hallmarks of healthy soil is macropores that contain

60% WATER and 40% AIR

APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR

Corn – Soybeans

Cover Crop

Nitrogen Management

Corn & Soybean Yield Response to Cereal Rye

Corn and soybean yield response to a cereal rye cover crop in a 4-year, on-farm trial in Iowa. Each bar represents the cover crop yield effect at 1 location in a single Year. Results are adapted from Carlson (2013).

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