Cover Crops and Soil Health with Ray Archuleta

Certified Professional Soil Scientist Ray Archuleta presented at the 2017 Albert Lea Seed Open House and delivered one of the most compelling presentations of the 3-day conference. In this video, Ray provides insight into how cover crops yield long-term benefit to soil management for farmers.

[@wmo1234]

Seriously, why hasn't Ray and Gabe received their Nobel yet? These guys are amazing!

[@franktobiasequestrian7818]

Fabulous talk! We are changing our 108 acre farm now to go Regen. We haven't ever put down chemical fertilizers or pesticides in 17 years, but now we are adding cover crops and mob grazing of our cows. Can't wait to see the change! Thanks Ray & Gabe - our inspiration and education!

[@karenf9137]

Hi Frank! Just wondering how it's working so far. ???

[@karlrovey]

Saw a good example of the benefits of plant diversity this summer during my in-laws' wheat harvest. They didn't get much rain, and had really thin wheat for the most part. The one real exception was the field with a lot of "weeds." That field had the thickest wheat and highest yield.

[@thechaosgardener]

Beautiful. I got this idea that I could terraform my backyard in Arizona by using solar power to add carbon. Everyone including myself had a dead compact clay backyard because I live in one of the hottest parts of Arizona and everyone told me it was impossible. If you stop trying to have a sterile sod backyard it is very possible. Its all about diversity and keeping the ground covered and it will regenerate. My backyard looks like an oasis now and its only been a year. I cant wait to see it in a few years. Thanks for sharing. Its amazing to realize other people thought of this idea long before I did.

[@SassyScrapper]

I live in Buckeye, AZ and I would love to know what you did to make your soil healthy. I just recently decided that I want to start growing a vegetable garden and I'm hoping to make it as productive as possible. I have been watching video after video and I'm about to read book after book to get me the knowledge I need. I do realize that the Arizona sun and dirt is different than every other place in the world. Any advice you give would be greatly appreciated. Cheryl

[@leelindsay5618]

@@SassyScrapper the Arizona sun may be fierce, but the dirt has similar composition to many places around the world. Look up Ray Archuleta's soil health principles talk. Understanding Ag goes into more details. Allan Savory and Gabe Brown have TED talks. When you understand, you will start to apply thr principles and you will see huge change.

[@andrzejleszczynski4487]

14:15 Ray is right. In my area ewrybody uses molbord plow. When i planted corn in to living ray, facelia, hairy vetch covercrop cars stoping in The Road. Neighbours running throu the field thinking that im drunk.

[@courtneyheron1561]

A beautiful presentation Ray! Thanks a million!

[@Jefferdaughter]

Originally, organic farming and gardening was all about LIFE. It was not just about not using a bunch of synthetic chemicals and fertilizers; it was about not using artificial fertilizers and 'cides' BECAUSE they kill soil life. It was about *working with nature*, not trying to subdue it. USDA Certified Organic standards miss the CONCEPTS that organic farming and gardening was originally based on. This version of 'organic' farming really isn't truly organic. So now we use the term 'ecological' farming.

[@savedfaves]

It's like biology. Some people study biology because they are fascinated by life and first thing their college has them do when they start is kill things and study death.

[@donnakelly5309]

Thanks Ray, It is such an inspiration to listen to you and people like you. It really is such a privilege to have access to all of these passionate speakers with such important information. We are about to begin preparing three acres of land in Cardinia shire, in a southern state of Australia 🇦🇺, for a community garden. Having access to the messages of soil health that we find on KZbin is invaluable. Thanks again. Fascinating and easy listening, whilst I potter in the garden and paint furniture in my workshop 😎‼️🇦🇺

[@StayPrimal]

Fantastic speaker for sure, very important subject.

[@rhondamontiel3827]

Love and appreciate the work this man does but 20 minutes in and I done waiting for the soil discussion

[@Andrew-pb6hy]

You're not just making better crops with less input. When the soil has microbes and fungi and everything it creates healthier plants. Whether those plants are fed to livestock or directly to humans they will lead to healthier humans directly or indirectly. Healthier humans = less money on health care, less individual craziness, less family problems, less community problems, and less problems in the world. Individual humans made decisions. Healthy humans make healthier decisions. It may not seem like it, but healthier soils, farming practices, food choices, and other things could lead to a much healthier and happier world. And the soil doesn't care about your income, race, or religion. Take care of the soil and take care of the species.

[@Jefferdaughter]

Yes! YES!! Healthy bodies include healthy BRAINS, and a healthy endocrine system- the hormones that control essentially every process in the body. This includes our emotions, our sense of well-being or lack of it, and our responses to the challenges of life. Avoiding synthetic chemicals (found in and transferred to our bodies from nearly everything we come into contact with) and consuming quality food is absolutely essential to health. This includes the trace and micro-trace minerals, in biologically active forms.. This also includes healthy, natural FATS essential to the development, function and maintenance of our BRAINS, which are around 30% cholesterol and 80% FAT. Fats - lipids and fatty acids - are essential for the proper formation of the membranes of every cell in our bodies. Fats form the protective coating of nerves. Fats are required for the body to make, store, and/or use the fat soluable vitamins, including Vit D. And fats are needed to build the hormones that regulate essentially every process in the body, including emotions, and ***our response to stress***. So why have we all been urged to avoid eating the natural fats our ancestors have eaten for as long as humans have been human, like meats, butter, cheeses, and eggs - for about the last 50 years? And why was the USDA ever involved in telling Americans what, and what not, to eat? (Answer: Marketing commodity crops.) 'Big Fat Surprise' kzbin.info/www/bejne/joK4n5iarLx7p80

[@karenf9137]

EXACTLY!!!!!!!

[@Sylinic]

Nailed it dude well done

[@lizardgeek1658]

I live in Arkansas. I drive around and see all the corn and soy... and dry desertification plaguing the area. It sucks. I am in college for Information Science and for some reason I only have a real interest in agriculture.

[@wadepatton2433]

Where in Manchester?! Whoot, that's only 18 miles south of me. Excited it's happening nearby and that was 5 years ago. I'll have to start riding the roads down that way again.

[@seanovnaindela8562]

Tanks from indonesia

[@jamescarnes2466]

I am on youtube searching for solutions and came across your name. I have a small farm that i am trying to make a living and I have been humbled for sure. I have in ground small scale market farm techniques and weeds are taking over. I have done cardboard covered with compost, wood chips for rows 30" beds and oak leaf compost still have weeds. Looking for a crop that i can make a living with. Okra grow well here and so do weeds. This cover crop thing looks promising. I used to have cows, donkeys and horses on the property and they would eat all of the grass until it was bare. Granted I don't have much pasture for them and did not do rotational grazing. My pasture is now mostly bermuda and weeds, a lot of Dandelions which i understand is because of compaction. When I mow it looks better and at least it is covered not bare. I was thinking of spreading a diverse mix cover crop and the crimp and plant. the soil is very sandy. I am against Monsanto and mono cropping but any suggestions would be appreciated. I will be honest and say that my NFT hydroponics greens production is so much better than my in ground production mainly because of the weeds or the lack their of. You mentioned a University or course I am very interested to learn. I own the land and my home going Blind quickly working on my health. I need to have something i can earn a living from. 57 years old and i have farm helpers, any advice please. I am looking to have a vegetable stand and do some agro tourism type stuff. I have hugelkulture raised beds that are amazing and wish to practice no till. I am located in North Texas Hot summers and some cold winters. I have been experimenting growing different things and seeing what works here in my climate. Shallotts, okra and Garlic is amazing. Not selling any yet.

[@jimmydykes7961]

Start off simple with cover crops.for weed control try cereal rye with hairy vetch

[@leelindsay5618]

If you have a small farm, look up his talk on soil health principles. Look into permaculture. Check out Greg Judy, look up Joel Salatin, and White Oak Pastures.

[@vivalaleta]

How's it going? Have you had any success?

[@wallyyuriy8912]

I 0 tilled my cash crop in a field that was wheat which is heavily fertilized previous year.Also seeded into sprayed out old hay field next to it for more acres. I seeded across so every pass caught both fields. Turned out the hay stubble grew better then the durum stubble.

[@jeffrosquist7973]

Ray gets me fired up

[@Joe-rc2on]

@1:24:16 He shows somebody "planting green". I'm not a farmer so I don't understand why this works. Why doesn't the existing plant keep all of the sunlight for itself? How do they get the new seed to take off where other weed seeds don't?

[@GmoBuelna]

Amazing, thanks a lot for share

[@felixyusupov7299]

I would be curious what Ray Archuleta's opinion of manure injection is. I would thing manure injection would be good for the worm however maybe not.

[@TsetsiStoyanova]

Genius

[@ChilcoteForestryServices]

Ray, Question, I am preaching multispecies cover crops for deer food plots. Part of it is the carbon sequestration pitch. I am reading the text book you recommended to get up to speed on C:N ratio. The question is: if bacteria break down and feed on high carbon material and give of CO2, is the amount of carbon sequestered in the soil as humus far greater than the gas given off into the atmosphere? (I dont subscribe to the idea that CO2 is a pollutant, but it is a constant argument)

[@travissmith-wz5nc]

Chilcote Forestry try to do same on my property. 5 acers of food plots

[@Jefferdaughter]

Good question. Dr. Elaine Ingham, PhD, is a soil microbiologist who understands the systems approach to studying soil and the life forms that make soil soil, and not just dirt. If she does not already know the answer to that question, she can find it for you. www.SoilFoodWeb.com On the question of whether CO2 is a 'pollutant', that would depend on how someone was defining a pollutant. If CO2 levels in your bloodstream rise above certain levels, you may consider it a pollutant. Ditto for the air we breathe - aside from considerations around the greenhouse effect. Then again, water, even pure water, can kill us. Most people probably don't drink enough water, but people have drunk so much water that they threw their electrolyte balance off and have died. Does that make water toxic? This condition is called water intoxication, yet we all need water to survive.

[@leelindsay5618]

Bacteria breaking down CO2 should be offset by living plants - which is why rolling down plants and planting into covers is so good for the soil & air. While plants are growing, they drawdown CO2, keep the C and release O2.

[@karenf9137]

Not just Chernobyl! The atolls in the South Pacific also regenerated after atomic bombs were tested there.

[@appetizing8377]

How do we get fungi in to the soil?

[@B01]

The best way to increase fungi in soil is by applying fungal dominant compos. Sorry no one gave you an actual answer until now! The woodier/brown the cover, the more it will support fungi. The more leafy/green the cover the more it will support bacteria.

[@Damenf1]

Can this be done on vegetable farm? Around 20 acres?

[@karenf9137]

Of course!!! When I was a little girl (a REALLY long time ago) I planted veggies in the plot where my father always piled old, dead yard waste, which degraded and incorporated into the soil. I grew the most beautiful, delicious vegetables in the whole neighborhood.

[@janetk3611]

Look on KZbin for an interview with Gabe Brown by No-Till Growers (Farmer Jesse’s channel)

[@iikmubarakachmad3054]

the great presentation

[@user-wz2nd1ny9u]

Sir. May I ask your question please? Ex- farmer cultivated pineapple. And there are still pineapple stalks stand on the field. Is it possible to roll it down? Or Should I dig it upside down first and plant cover crops second? Sir, May I have your opinion about it please ? It is in the Philippines. Sir. Thank you^^ And

[@karenf9137]

www.SoilFoodWeb.com Give it a try. Good luck!

[@leelindsay5618]

Any time you have to dig or turn over soil, you are tearing up your soil structure. Try out different things - you are the scientist on your plot of land. Try different things in different plots and see what works.

[@B01]

Roots are one of the best food sources for the microbiome, so digging it up would actually be counter productive due to that reason as well as the comment above pointing out how much activity happens on soil surface. In fact, the most activity outside the rootzones happens in the top 1-2 inches of our soil !! Incredible

[@survivalpodcasting]

Getting a True Green Chemlawn commercial during this is a special kind of irony. 🙄

[@MouthOfFunk]

People get sleepy after they eat - only - if they eat bad food.

[@Jefferdaughter]

Usually carbohydrates are the culprit, especially starches and sugars. After the sugar-rush, there is a sugar crash. Eating too much at once can slow us down, too. Tryptophan, an amino acid or building block of protein, is often blamed for the sleepiness common after the Thanksgiving feast - but chicken, beef and lamb have the the same amount, and cheese has about double, and none of those other foods are blamed for sleepiness after eating. The high amount of starch and sugar we eat with the Thanksgiving meal, and the shear amount of food we consume at that holiday feast are probably to blame. A healthy gut biome also prevents sleepiness after eating. Food sensitivities are also said to cause sleepiness after eating. According to Nora Gedgaudes (see her talks on YT), these are far more common than most realize.

[@MouthOfFunk]

@@Jefferdaughter sorry it's a saint's guidance nothing can prove otherwise.

[@Mustafaljuboori]

@@MouthOfFunk people feel sleepy afterwards when they eat cooked foods has to enzymes to digest it and the liver produce insulin to help digest these foods.... Your body start pulling every nutrient from various places to digest theses crooked foods.... honey, pineapple and papaya has enzymes to help breaking down foods. I love me honey after meals to digest it properly

[@wadepatton2433]

@@Jefferdaughter I eat almost exclusively carbs and grains and greens and never get sleepy after a meal. I don't eat un-whole foods (sugars and oils).

[@B01]

Try this one on for size...The most recent studies have been able to narrow down the microbiome on our bodies as containing similar microbes to that found on food surfaces. When we spray and apply chemicals, it continues in into our bodies affecting our own microbiome in many of the ways it affects it outside our bodies. Only with latest tech have we been able to narrow down the exact species, with DNA testing of the specific microbes...that along with advancements in SEM microscopy (plus more availability) and better staining techniques is why we only just found out just how similar they can be

[@joesears584]

Can’t pass on watching a video with Ray speaking

[@vivalaleta]

Or Gabe Brown and I'M NOT A FARMER.

[@sudhakarreddy8077]

How about maintaining proper C to N ratio for the survival of Fungi in Soil or in Compost. Can Biochar improve Fungal to Bacteria Ratio in the soil for fruit crops.