June 4, 2018 Field presentation provided to participants of the June 4, 2018 Small Grains and Soil Health public field day that was held in San Joaquin County, CA from 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM by Jeff Mitchell, Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis. This presentation provides a general introduction to the topic of soil health and a summary of long-term research findings from the conservation agriculture systems study that has been conducted in Five Points, CA since 1999.

2. Managing for soil health …
•Minimizing soil disturbance
•Maximizing the diversity of plants in rotation / cover crops
•Keeping living roots in the soil as much as possible, and
•Keeping the soil covered with plants and plant residues at all times
Unlock the Secrets in the Soil
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health/

3. Mother Nature...
...harvests the maximum amount of sunlight
...leaks very few nutrients including CO2
...has diversity
...does not export nutrients
...makes maximum use of water and nutrients by having
highly developed porosity and VAM webs
...does not do tillage
Summary of comments made by Dr.Dwayne Beck, SDSU,
at 2014 Winter Conference of No-till on the Plains, Salina, KS

4. UC ANR Healthy Soils Projects
Sutter County
Sarah Light
Amber Vinchesi
Gene Miyao
cover crops
San Joaquin County
Brenna Aegerter
Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
cover crops
Merced County
Scott Stoddard
Dan Munk
Jeff Mitchell
compost
Fresno County
Dan Munk
Jeff Mitchell
cover crops

5. The research base
From 1999, ongoing work with CT
tomato and cotton systems in Five Points, CA
NRI CT Project Field Fall 2007
UCWest Side Research and Extension Center
Five Points, CA

6. Conservation Agriculture Systems
Crop rotation
Intensity of soil disturbance
Surface crop retention
Conventionalagriculture
Conservationagriculture
Conventional Minimum
Tillage
Direct
Seeding

7. Cover Crop Biomass 2000 – 2018
(lbs dry matter / acre)
33.5 tons dry matter
13.4 tons C