Building Organic Matter in the Winter Months

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

These winter months on the farm slow down the biology that happens beneath the soil’s surface. However, biological processes are still happening, and John Kempf of Advancing Eco Agriculture says the winter is a great time to building organic matter and with that nitrogen that will be available for next year’s crop.

Kempf… “ Stable organic matter, what is correctly referred to as mineral associated organic matter during the winter months than you do during the summer because during the summer it just cycles too fast. If you have crop residues, they get vaporized or metabolized and released as carbon dioxide. Nothing wrong with that. We need that to happen. It's not a question of good or bad, it's just different. And what happens during the winter months when you have this, this formation of mineral associated organic matter as a result of carbon cycling? There is also the opportunity to capture nitrogen and associate nitrogen with those various forms of carbon in a very efficient way.  That doesn't leach, it's not leachable when you have nitrogen in the form of bacterial proteins and uh, or that is associated with this, these various complex carbon forms.  it's very common to put applications on its spring, but you're losing your golden window of opportunity of the fall of the winter months when you have colder soil temperatures.”

Advancing Eco Agriculture sells a line of soil primer products to help facilitate these biological processes.