Flat Aggie Learns About Soil Testing

I made the trip to North Central Kansas today, where spring has finally arrived! With spring comes farmers looking to getting their fields ready for the upcoming planting season. I tagged along with farmer Stephen to learn more about soil testing and what goes into keeping the soil healthy to grow food.

Did you know farmers can test their soil to find out just what it needs to grow healthy crops? That is just what we did! The first step in this process is to collect a soil sample. Farmer Stephen and his son Kyan took me out to the field. They used a long stick called a probe to collect the soil sample.

 They stuck the probe in the ground, twisted it, and pulled it out to get the sample.

 


They then put the soil into a bucket. They took several samples from the field.

Once the samples were collected, we were off to the local Agronomy sales center to deliver our soil samples. We put the soil into little bags and labeled them so they can be sent to the soil lab to be tested.  The soil lab will test the nutrients in the soil and the soil PH, so that Farmer Stephen knows what kind of fertilizer the fields need.

Here is what the results will look like!

I learned that the soil acts like a bank for the nutrients. When crops grow and are harvested, they take some of those nutrients, which then need to be replenished. That is why farmers add fertilizer to their fields. Farmers are making sure their soil is healthy to grow healthy and nutritious food for you to eat!  Farmers take pride in being great stewards of their land. They like to make sure that they apply the fertilizer using 4R principles. That means they apply the fertilizer at the right time, right rate, right place and right source. The right time means they apply the fertilizer at the time that the plant can use the nutrients. The right rate means they apply the amount of fertilizer that the plants need and don’t give it too much or too little. Right place means they apply it where the plants can use it, meaning close to the roots. The right source means that the correct type of fertilizer is being used.

After learning all about the soil and the 4Rs, I got to go take a ride in the sprayer. Wow, it was big!  I learned about all the cool gadgets like this GPS system. Did you know GPS could actually help a farmer? The soil test results come back with the location of the samples and can be put into a computer program, which can show what part of the field needs what amount and type of fertilizer. The program acts like a prescription for how much fertilizer needs to be applied and where. That prescription is then loaded into the GPS, so that the farmers can make sure the fertilizer is being applied where it is needed.

It was a great day learning about the importance of soil and how fertilizer can help keep the soil healthy. It was crazy to learn about all the technology that helps farmer Stephen keep his soil healthy and play his role in feeding the world!

Teachers can find FREE soil science curriculum meeting Next Generation Science Standards at our website www.nutrientsforlife.org