Cover crops slow erosion, improve soil, smother weeds, enhance nutrient and moisture availability, help control many pests and bring a host of other benefits to your farm. At the same time, they can reduce costs, increase profits and even create new sources of income. You¿ll reap dividends on your cover crop investments for years, since their benefits accumulate over the long term. This book will help you find which ones are right for you. Captures farmer and other research results from the past ten years. The authors verified the info. from the 2nd ed., added new results and updated farmer profiles and research data, and added 2 chap. Includes maps and charts, detailed narratives about individual cover crop species, and chap. about aspects of cover cropping.
Degradation of soils continues at a pace that will eventually create a local, regional, or even global crisis when diminished soil resources collide with increasing climate variation. It's not too late to restore our soils to a more productive state by rediscovering the value of soil management, building on our well-established and ever-expanding scientific understanding of soils. Soil management concepts have been in place since the cultivation of crops, but we need to rediscover the principles that are linked together in effective soil management. This book is unique because of its treatment of soil management based on principles—the physical, chemical, and biological processes and how together they form the foundation for soil management processes that range from tillage to nutrient management. Whether new to soil science or needing a concise reference, readers will benefit from this book's ability to integrate the science of soils with management issues and long-term conservation efforts.
With the recent decline of the European honey bee, it is more important than ever to encourage the activity of other native pollinators to keep your flowers beautiful and your grains and produce plentiful. In Attracting Native Pollinators, you’ll find ideas for building nesting structures and creating a welcoming habitat for an array of diverse pollinators that includes not only bees, but butterflies, moths, and more. Take action and protect North America’s food supply for the future, while at the same time enjoying a happily bustling landscape.
Non-Chemical Weed Control is the first book to present an overview of plant crop protection against non-food plants using non-chemical means. Plants growing wild—particularly unwanted plants found in cultivated ground to the exclusion of the desired crop—have been treated with herbicides and chemical treatments in the past. As concern over environmental, food and consumer safety increases, research has turned to alternatives, including the use of cover crops, thermal treatments and biotechnology to reduce and eliminate unwanted plants. This book provides insight into existing and emerging alternative crop protection methods and includes lessons learned from past methodologies. As crop production resources decline while consumer concerns over safety increase, the effective control of weeds is imperative to insure the maximum possible levels of soil, sunlight and nutrients reach the crop plants. - Allows reader to identify the most appropriate solution based on their individual use or case - Provides researchers, students and growers with current concepts regarding the use of modern, environment-friendly weed control techniques - Presents methods of weed management—an important part of integrated weed management in the future - Exploits the knowledge gained from past sustainable weed management efforts