Iowa State?s Soil Health conference to focus on farm profitability

by | Jan 12, 2017 | 5 Ag Stories, News

by Ben Nuelle

Times are tight for farmers and nothing is more important than having healthy soil for crops. Iowa State will host their second annual soil health conference in Ames in February.

The soil health conference will take place February 16th and 17th at the Scheman Building on the Iowa State campus.

Mahdi Al-Kaisi is a professor in soil and the environment at Iowa State.

He feels farmers are doing their best to maintain healthy soil.

?Because soil for the farmers is an investment. As we see the prices of land increase, and even it is decreasing the last couple of years it is still relatively high but it is still a huge investment of the farm enterprise.?

The conference will feature around 33 speakers from across the country.

?Conferences like this is going to provide the farmer with some help, networking, and information they need to implement so the farmers they cannot do it alone. If we don?t provide them the information and the tools to manage the soil effectively it is going to be a big challenge.?

Al-Kaisi adds soil health is very much linked to water quality.

?That is basically implementing conservation practices such as waterways, perennials, setting aside marginal land. These can improve the soil and eventually improve soil [qualities] such as physical, chemical, and biological properties as well as improve water management on the field.?

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