How to Partner with an Agronomist to Maximize Soil Quality

Regardless of which crops you grow, your productivity greatly depends on the quality of your soil. Seed quality, crop protection, irrigation—the benefits of these methods are minimal if you have bad soil.

To farm effectively, then, you need to understand your soil quality. When you consult with your agronomist, here are some factors to consider and questions to ask. 

The importance of an agronomist in your farm operation

Farming is an ever-changing process, often centering around technology that didn’t exist even a few years ago. As a farmer, it can be challenging to keep up with all the shifts and changes—which is why having an agronomist on your side can be invaluable. 

Whether you’re an experienced or brand new farmer, you don’t know what you don’t know. Given the narrow margins you’ll likely face this year, basing important farming decisions on an incomplete knowledge base is incredibly risky. 

Agronomists, especially those familiar with your particular climate, soil, and region, can help you with key farming decisions, including:

• Crop rotation

• Seed selection

• Fertilizer & pesticide application

When you work with an agronomist partner, you’re eliminating guesswork and hunches and, instead, making decisions based on objective, verifiable data.

This level of insight and decision-making can significantly improve your yields & productivity. In some cases, you could return three to four times what you spent on agronomy services. Nearly every farmer in America would agree that’s money well spent. 

If you’re leasing farmland, you may be able to make the case for splitting agronomy costs with the owner. When you invest in taking better care of farmland, the end result is a more valuable asset for the landowner. And if you have a crop share agreement, you can increase the overall profits split among all parties—it’s a win-win. 

Soil testing: why should you do it and how often?

Once you’ve made the decision to work with an agronomy partner, one of the key areas they’ll look at is soil quality. Regular soil testing is important for a number of reasons, all of which your agronomist will be intimately familiar with:

• Optimizing crop production

• Protect the environment from contamination, typically caused by runoff and excess fertilization

• Improved diagnosis of plant culture problems

• Improved nutritional balance 

• Saving money by conserving energy and applying only the amount of fertilizer needed

Generally, soil testing should be part of your lease agreement and conducted once every 1-3 years. When your agronomist conducts a soil test, they’ll generally look for potential nutrient deficiencies, pH imbalances, or excess soluble salts. 

Key factors that impact soil quality

When your agronomist tests your soil quality, the results can indicate a number of different issues. Often you’ll have to rely on their expertise to parse out what’s causing the issue and what the impact can and will be. Here are some of the most common factors that impact soil quality.

Parent materials

The parent materials of the soil set the groundwork (no pun intended) for how well plants grow in the soil and which are most likely to thrive. Parent materials can run the gamut, including till, loess, lacustrine, outwash, and more. 

Climate

Exposure to the elements will have a major impact on soil quality. Temperature and precipitation, for instance, influence how fast parent materials weather, which impacts mineral composition and organic matter content. 

Another factor at play is moisture index, or the level of moisture in the soil. The higher the moisture index, the higher the rate of chemical weathering which moves minerals deeper into the soil profile. This can significantly impact management practices, including drainage and inputs of mobile nutrients. 

Biota (organisms)

Nearly all soils are rife with organisms, ranging from bacteria to gophers and surface vegetation (i.e. weeds). Depending on which organisms are more present in the soil, they can speed up or slow down soil formation. Microorganisms, for example, can facilitate chemical reactions and excrete organic substances that improve water filtration in the soil. 

Farming practices

For farmers, one of the major factors that impacts soil quality is use of the land and your farming practices—crop types, rotation patterns, fertilizers used, crop protection, etc. Understanding your soil quality will help you understand which practices are beneficial, which ones are hurting the land. 

Time

The development of soil isn’t directly related to chronological age. As we mentioned earlier, other factors can significantly speed up or slow down the formation of the soil. So you’ll need to test the soil to make sure its chronological age matches its formation age. 

If you rely on old information or hunches, you run the risk of misaligning your perception of the soil quality with reality. This can lead to serious consequences for your operation. 

Questions to ask your agronomist about soil quality

Asking your agronomist highly technical questions about soil quality may be an interesting intellectual exercise, but likely will have little impact on your farming decisions. 

The agronomist is an expert in the soil, but you’re the one who actually farms the land. As such, it’s important that you work with your agronomist to determine which actions are needed based on what they uncover from the results of your soil tests. 

Some of the key questions you can ask include

• Is the soil at risk of depletion?

• What steps can we take to further support our crops and increase productivity?

• Are we engaging in practices that are harming the soil, and how do we stop those?

• What is our short- and long-term plan to enhance soil quality? 

Final thoughts on working with an agronomist on soil quality

When you partner with an agronomist on your farming operation, you base your decisions on reality, not guesses or hunches. Nowhere is this more important than in your soil quality. If your perception is off-base, it can seriously hamper your crop productivity.

Most of the time, your landowner will have soil testing requirements already in your land lease agreement. Rather than engage in a strictly transactional relationship with an agronomist, lean on them for their expertise. Both you and the landowner will be thankful for it.

If you’re looking to pick up new ground for your growing operation, check local listings on the CommonGround marketplace right here.