David not only volunteered his time to be on the podcast, as well as many hours contributing to our growers forum, but he also sent along a reading list for those interested in going deeper into his particular perspective on soil management. If you haven’t yet, give his episode a listen below, it’s one of the best one’s yet.

David’s Reading List: A Deep Dive Into Soil Organic Matter And Agricultural Nutrient Management
I compiled this reading list right around the winter solstice, when short days and long evenings are conducive to reading and study. For those interested in learning more about soil organic matter and nutrient management, here are some papers that explain the latest findings. All can be accessed for free by following the links. Unless you’re interested in exactly how the experiments were done, there’s no need to get bogged down in the methods and data analysis sections – just focus on the Introduction and Discussion sections.

Persistence of soil organic matter as an ecosystem property

Climate-smart soils

The contentious nature of soil organic matter

Direct evidence for microbial-derived soil organic matter formation and its ecophysiological controls

Options for Improved Phosphorus Cycling and Use in Agriculture at the Field and Regional Scales

Nitrate leaching from intensive organic farms to groundwater

Have a look at some or all of these, and share your thoughts on the No-Till Growers Forum!

David Blanchard

Because of growers like David, we’ve also decided to keep the grower’s forum after all. True, it may not be as active as Facebook, however, the quality of the discourse there is much higher and—quite simply—some of us just don’t like to use Facebook. Period. To look back at the discussions David has been a part of—and usually contributed a substantial amount to—follow his conversation threads below. He’s not afraid to get real. Take a twenty seconds to sign up and join the conversation.