Soil Acidity and Soil Health Workshop in Fort Benton
The Chouteau County Soil Acidity Working Group has organized a soil acidity and soil health workshop at the Ag Center in Fort Benton on February 27, 2018. The Ag Center is located at 1205 20th Street. Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m. The workshop will begin at 10:00 a.m.
Most agricultural soils in Montana have near-neutral to basic conditions with surface soil pH 6.5 to 8. However, some areas of Montana have developed acidic soil layers near the surface as a result of fertilizer N use and no-till. The phenomena of soil acidification in Montana is largely confined to the upper 6” of soil.
The morning presentations will include a producer report and presentations from NRCS, Conservation District, Montana State University researchers and Montana State University Extension.
The afternoon programs will all be via telecommunications, and include soil specialists from Washington State and North Dakota.
Presentations will include:
Identifying Soil Acidity in your Fields: Kent Squires Geraldine producer.
Identifying Soil Acidity issues when looking at Soil Tests: Marni Thompson NRCS Resource Conservationist. Marni’s presentation will cover long term soil solutions to acidity.
Chouteau County Conservation District Update: Dale Krause Ag Consultant and Certified Crop Advisor for Chouteau County Conservation District. Dale will update producers on a biological study he is conducting in low pH areas.
Preventing Acidification: Clain Jones MSU Extension Soil Fertility Specialist.
Soil acidity tolerance in cereal grain varieties: Jason Cook MSU Plant Sciences and Pathology.
Lime Materials and Application: Dr. Dave Huggins USDA-ARS in Washington State (via tele-communications). Dr. Huggins will discuss options for choosing lime materials, as well as considerations such as particle size and percent calcium carbonate. Discussion will also include methods of application in no-till systems.
Soil Acidity and Soil Health: Jon Stika Dickinson North Dakota Research and Extension Center Agronomist (via tele-communications). Jon will cover increasing soil organic matter and discuss how improving soil biology can assist with soil acidity.
Managing soil acidity in no-till systems: Dr. Dave Franzen Extension Soil Specialist at North Dakota State University (via tele-communications) Dr. Franzen will discuss the importance of no-till and drawbacks to deep tillage. He will also cover why and how soil acidity develops and cover liming material success of surface lime applications in no-till studies.
