Crop Management
Crop management concerns beyond nutrients and pests include crop selection, variety selection, planting dates, seeding depth, tillage practices, and other practices such as cover crops for moisture and weed management. Choosing these practices carefully can help reduce weather-related risks, such as wind damage, waterlogged soils, soil erosion, disease spread, and plant stress during droughts and floods.
No-till farming can be one tool to improve soil health. Photo courtesy of Tyler Williams, University of Nebraska
REFERENCES Weather Ready Nebraska. (n.d.). Management strategies [Website]. Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska. https://agritools.unl.edu/management-strategies/ Soil Health and Water Conservation Extreme weather events, like heavy downpours and flooding, can cause profound amounts of soil erosion. Soil and water conservation practices help keep soil in place and increase water use efficiency. Topsoil is the most productive of the soil horizon, so prevention of its erosion is key to conservation. Soil conservation practices may increase soil quality and function when practiced in the long run. The Soil and Water Conservation Society is a national organization that studies science-based management practices for conserving soil and water resources. The five principles of soil health include minimizing soil disturbance, providing soil armor, plant diversity, continual live- plant roots, and livestock integration. The main goal of soil health is to create organic matter, which can cycle nutrients and provide biologically for a crop with fewer chemical and physical inputs. Organic matter can increase water holding
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