Summer Soul-stice Going Virtual
The word “apocalypse” is described as “destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic scale,” according to the Oxford Dictionary. An alternate, less frightening, definition of apocalypse is “to uncover…
Fungal Community Shifts in Soils with Varied Cover Crop Treatments and Edaphic Properties
Cover cropping is proposed to enhance soil microbial diversity and activity, with cover crop type affecting microbial groups in different ways. We compared fungal community compositions of bulk soils differing…
Prairie Research Could Help Farming Become More Resilient, Sustainable
On a still November day, Patrick O’Neal, the burn coordinator at Kansas State University’s Konza Prairie Biological Station near Manhattan, Kansas, convenes a meeting about a planned fire. “The goal…
Book Outlines how Agriculture can be Revolutionized, Supported by New International Bodies
LAWRENCE — Revolutionizing the way humans practice agriculture by implementing new practices supported by international bodies might sound like a radical idea. Yet it’s possible, according to a University of Kansas…
Trees, big fans, and deep-rooted plants: How to suck 2 gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere
To have a chance of avoiding the worst impacts of climate change, society needs to reach net-zero emissions by 2050—meaning that if we can’t transition to an emissions-free economy by…
Water contamination: In Minnesota, we must reconsider which crops we plant
The news in the Jan. 14 issue of the Star Tribune that 1 in 8 Minnesotans are drinking nitrate-tainted water and that fertilizer escaping from row-crop fields is a main…
Perennial grain Kernza taking root in Minnesota
GOODHUE COUNTY, Minn. — If humans want to continue eating we need to continue farming. But many farming practices that have become common in the 21st century result in pollution…
Fred Iutzi: Changes are Coming
TOPEKA, Kan. — Keynote speaker Fred Iutzi, president of The Land Institute, helped the Kansas Rural Center mark its 40th anniversary at their annual conference in early November by dealing…
Large crowd shows interest in eco-friendly perennial grain crop
A standing room only crowd of about 150 gathered at Imminent Brewing Dec. 11 to hear University of Minnesota Agronomy Professor Jake Jungers’ present “The Power of Perennials & Kernza’s…
The Seed Multiplier
Doug Brands is the water supervisor for the city of Edgerton charged with taking care of the city’s drinking water wells and its ion exchange water treatment plant that filters…
15 Organizations Creating Healthier Soil to Save the Planet
One of the most important tools to combat climate change is right under our feet — soil. Unfortunately, the planet’s soil is being eroded at a rate of about one…
How a New Grain Could Help Combat Climate Change
Scientists in Minnesota and Kansas are developing a grain called Kernza, which, unlike most of our food crops, is a perennial plant with a whole host of environmental benefits. While…