Views of an agronomist on soil, farming, and science. Evidence-based agriculture.
Articles:
Blog Posts by Topic
Columbia Basin Agriculture
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Cover Crops and Cover Crop Mixtures
| Article Title | Date |
|---|
| Cash Crops, and Their Residues, are the Best Cover Crops | June 2, 2025 |
| Cover Crop Benefits Depend on Biomass: How Much do You Need? | March 4, 2025 |
| What’s so Good about Biodiversity in Crop Production? | October 10, 2023 |
| Water Use Limitations of Cover Crops in Dryland Cropping | April 4, 2023 |
| Buckwheat and Phosphorus | September 13, 2021 |
| Crop Diversity is Not the Cause | July 19, 2021 |
| Why Ecological Biodiversity Research Results Seldom Apply to Agriculture | February 4, 2021 |
| Contrary Science; Cover Crop Mixtures, Monocultures, and Mechanisms | August 18, 2020 |
| 2018 Cover Crop Monoculture vs Mixture Update | December 18, 2018 |
| Cover crop monocultures continue to best mixtures; 2017 Update | December 12, 2017 |
| Cover crop best bet is monoculture, not mix | December 21, 2016 |
| Defending the Proper Use of Monoculture | September 27, 2016 |
| Monoculture vs. Polyculture Part II: “Straight up” beats “cocktails” for cover crop ecosystem services | June 11, 2015 |
| Monoculture vs. Polyculture Part I: “Straight up” beats “cocktails” for cover crop productivity | June 8, 2015 |
| How about GM cover crops? | January 28, 2014 |
| Mixing the Perfect Cover Crop Cocktail | April 17, 2013 |
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Crop Diversity and Biodiversity
| Article Title | Date |
|---|
| What’s so Good about Biodiversity in Crop Production? | October 10, 2023 |
| Crop Diversity is Not the Cause | July 19, 2021 |
| Biodiversity, Healthy Soils, and their Combination in Regenerative Agriculture can Reduce but not Replace Fertilizer | March 15, 2021 |
| Why Ecological Biodiversity Research Results Seldom Apply to Agriculture | February 4, 2021 |
| Contrary Science; Cover Crop Mixtures, Monocultures, and Mechanisms | August 18, 2020 |
| Crop rotation: In praise of deliberate, sequenced disruption of natural systems | December 1, 2016 |
| Defending the Proper Use of Monoculture | September 27, 2016 |
| Monoculture vs. Polyculture Part II: “Straight up” beats “cocktails” for cover crop ecosystem services | June 11, 2015 |
| Monoculture vs. Polyculture Part I: “Straight up” beats “cocktails” for cover crop productivity | June 8, 2015 |
| Ecological Theories, Meta-Analysis, and the Benefits of Monocultures | May 26, 2015 |
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Crop Rotation
| Article Title | Date |
|---|
| Cash Crops, and Their Residues, are the Best Cover Crops | June 2, 2025 |
| Water Use Limitations of Cover Crops in Dryland Cropping | April 4, 2023 |
| Potato Cropping Systems to Manage Soilborne Disease | February 7, 2023 |
| Fine-Tuning with Soil Health; Soilborne Disease? | October 5, 2022 |
| Yield Benefits of Crop Rotation: Crop Diversity or Active Crop Time? | April 15, 2021 |
| Crop rotation: In praise of deliberate, sequenced disruption of natural systems | December 1, 2016 |
| Defending the Proper Use of Monoculture | September 27, 2016 |
| Change your crop, change your soil | August 9, 2013 |
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Ecology, Agroecology, and Agriculture
| Article Title | Date |
|---|
| How Pop Ecology Misleads Agriculture | February 24, 2026 |
| Soil Organic Matter in Natural Ecosystems vs. Cropped Fields: A Misleading Comparison | January 28, 2025 |
| The Flawed Thinking Behind “Mimic Nature” in Crop Production | December 11, 2024 |
| Follow the Energy: How Cropping Systems Differ From Natural Systems | June 25, 2024 |
| What’s so Good about Biodiversity in Crop Production? | October 10, 2023 |
| Bet-Hedging with Cover Crop Mixtures | September 28, 2021 |
| Crop Diversity is Not the Cause | July 19, 2021 |
| Yield Benefits of Crop Rotation: Crop Diversity or Active Crop Time? | April 15, 2021 |
| Why Ecological Biodiversity Research Results Seldom Apply to Agriculture | February 4, 2021 |
| Soils under corn and tallgrass prairie; research to challenge our assumptions | October 2, 2018 |
| Crop rotation: In praise of deliberate, sequenced disruption of natural systems | December 1, 2016 |
| Ecological Theories, Meta-Analysis, and the Benefits of Monocultures | May 26, 2015 |
| Can We Save Nature by Improving Agriculture? | September 16, 2014 |
| Ecosystems are Not Smart, We Are – Applications on the Farm | March 5, 2014 |
| Don’t Mimic Nature on the Farm, Improve it | March 3, 2014 |
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Feeding the World
| Article Title | Date |
|---|
| Meeting Food Demand through Agronomic Engineering and Incremental Transformation | August 9, 2023 |
| The New Urban Indoor Industrial Agriculture… but Why? | November 16, 2016 |
| The Essentials of Sustaining Agricultural Production | July 16, 2015 |
| Space Farming is Science FICTION | March 27, 2015 |
| Agriculture Requires Fertilizer Inputs, and That’s Good | October 16, 2014 |
| Don’t Mimic Nature on the Farm, Improve it | March 3, 2014 |
| Forego a Hamburger, Feed a Person | September 5, 2013 |
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Fertilizer, Nutrients, & Nitrogen
| Article Title | Date |
|---|
| Rhizophagy and Quorum Sensing: Don’t Fall for the Merely Fascinating | April 15, 2025 |
| Comments on “The myth of nitrogen fertilization for soil carbon sequestration.” by Khan et al. (2007) | July, 2024 |
| Fine-tuning with Soil Health; Nutrients | August 17, 2022 |
| Why Hasn’t Biological Nitrogen Fixation Fixed Nitrogen Scarcity in the World? | May 5, 2022 |
| Always Follow the Nitrogen | December 7, 2021 |
| Why the World Stays Green | November 16, 2021 |
| Buckwheat and Phosphorus | September 13, 2021 |
| Biodiversity, Healthy Soils, and their Combination in Regenerative Agriculture can Reduce but not Replace Fertilizer | March 15, 2021 |
| How does regenerative agriculture reduce nutrient inputs? | February 4, 2020 |
| Communication intercept reveals 21st century cities were alien food project | October 30, 2016 |
| The Benefits of Combining Organic and Synthetic Nitrogen Sources | June 26, 2016 |
| Agriculture Requires Fertilizer Inputs, and That’s Good | October 16, 2014 |
| Organic Farming Reliant on Synthetic Nitrogen | October 9, 2012 |
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Green Manures
Manure and Compost
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No-till, Strip-till and Related
Organic Farming
| Article Title | Date |
|---|
| How Pop Ecology Misleads Agriculture | February 24, 2026 |
| Common Ground: A Narrow Organic Vision of Regenerative Agriculture | May 19, 2025 |
| The Flawed Thinking Behind “Mimic Nature” in Crop Production | December 11, 2024 |
| Agricultural Science and Organic Farming: Time to Change Our Trajectory (Open Access paper) | December 1, 2017 |
| The Benefits of Combining Organic and Synthetic Nitrogen Sources | June 26, 2016 |
| Organic Farming Provides Ecosystem Service and Solves Weed Problems | April 14, 2016 |
| Study Shows Soil-Building Benefits of Manure and Crop Rotation, so why didn’t they say so? | June 27, 2013 |
| Hamstrung by Ideology | December 20, 2012 |
| Organic Farming Reliant on Synthetic Nitrogen | October 9, 2012 |
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Pesticides
Philosophy of Agriculture
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Regenerative Agriculture
| Article Title | Date |
|---|
| Common Ground: A Narrow Organic Vision of Regenerative Agriculture | May 19, 2025 |
| Rhizophagy and Quorum Sensing: Don’t Fall for the Merely Fascinating | April 15, 2025 |
| Soil Organic Matter in Natural Ecosystems vs. Cropped Fields: A Misleading Comparison | January 28, 2025 |
| Don’t Overthink Your Soil Biology | November 1, 2022 |
| Yield Benefits of Crop Rotation: Crop Diversity or Active Crop Time? | April 15, 2021 |
| Biodiversity, Healthy Soils, and their Combination in Regenerative Agriculture can Reduce but not Replace Fertilizer | March 15, 2021 |
| MAXIMIZE and minimize; Two Principles for Managing Soil Health | June 18, 2020 |
| How does regenerative agriculture reduce nutrient inputs? | February 4, 2020 |
| Regenerative Agriculture: Solid Principles, Extraordinary Claims | April 4, 2018 |
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Soil Health
| Article Title | Date |
|---|
| Rhizophagy and Quorum Sensing: Don’t Fall for the Merely Fascinating | April 15, 2025 |
| Cover Crop Benefits Depend on Biomass: How Much do You Need? | March 4, 2025 |
| Soil Organic Matter in Natural Ecosystems vs. Cropped Fields: A Misleading Comparison | January 28, 2025 |
| Soil Bio-Products are Risky; Ask Questions | November 13, 2024 |
| Choose Soil-building Practices Over Soil Health Products | October 23, 2024 |
| What’s so Good about Biodiversity in Crop Production? | October 10, 2023 |
| Potato Cropping Systems to Manage Soilborne Disease | February 7, 2023 |
| A Problem with Soil Inoculants | November 22, 2022 |
| Don’t Overthink Your Soil Biology | November 1, 2022 |
| Fine-Tuning with Soil Health; Soilborne Disease? | October 5, 2022 |
| Fine-Tuning with Soil Health; Water | August 23,2022 |
| Fine-tuning with Soil Health; Nutrients. | August 17, 2022 |
| Do soil health indicators indicate soil health? | April 13, 2022 |
| Biodiversity, Healthy Soils, and their Combination in Regenerative Agriculture can Reduce but not Replace Fertilizer | March 15, 2021 |
| MAXIMIZE and minimize; Two Principles for Managing Soil Health | June 18, 2020 |
| Just-In-Time Soil Health | April 1, 2020 |
| Soil (health) evaluation begins by asking “What’s the problem with my soil?” | July 9, 2019 |
| Soil biology and soil organic matter; What do recent discoveries mean for soil management? | June 10, 2019 |
| Soils under corn and tallgrass prairie; research to challenge our assumptions | October 2, 2018 |
| Regenerative Agriculture: Solid Principles, Extraordinary Claims | April 4, 2018 |
| Comparing effects of herbicides, fertilizers, and tillage on the soil | December 8, 2016 |
| The Benefits of Combining Organic and Synthetic Nitrogen Sources | June 26, 2016 |
| Questioning the Value of Soil Health for the Irrigated Arid West | August 21, 2014 |
| Concentrate Organic Matter at Surface to Improve Soils | April 30, 2014 |
| Cover the Soil for Quick Benefits | October 16, 2013 |
| Change your crop, change your soil | August 9, 2013 |
| Are You Micromanaging Your Soil? | May 21, 2013 |
| No-till Does Not Reverse Soil Degradation? | March 14, 2013 |
| Hamstrung by Ideology | December 20, 2012 |
| How to kill your soil | November 1, 2012 |
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Sustainability of Agriculture
| Article Title | Date |
|---|
| The Columbia Basin Irrigation Project; As Drought-Proof and Sustainable as it Gets. | November 20, 2024 |
| There is not enough manure (or compost) to sustain agriculture | October 18, 2017 |
| Can manure sustain soils? | September 19, 2017 |
| Can Manure Supply Nitrogen and Phosphorus to Agriculture? | September 7, 2017 |
| The New Urban Indoor Industrial Agriculture… but Why? | November 16, 2016 |
| The Essentials of Sustaining Agricultural Production | July 16, 2015 |
| Space Farming is Science FICTION | March 27, 2015 |
| Agriculture Requires Fertilizer Inputs, and That’s Good | October 16, 2014 |
| Can We Save Nature by Improving Agriculture? | September 16, 2014 |
| The Sustainability of the Columbia Basin’s Irrigation System | June 2, 2014 |
| Organic Farming Reliant on Synthetic Nitrogen | October 9, 2012 |
| Stepping, rather than jumping, towards sustainability | September 25, 2012 |
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Other
| Article Title | Date |
|---|
| Reader Beware: Separating Science from Science Marketing | July 24, 2024 |
| Sagebrush Shrub-steppe or Cheatgrass Prairie? | September 5, 2023 |
| Cryptic Species, Agriculture, and Confirmation Bias | May 31, 2018 |
| The New Urban Indoor Industrial Agriculture… but Why? | November 16, 2016 |
| Communication intercept reveals 21st century cities were alien food project | October 30, 2016 |
| Defending the Proper Use of Monoculture | September 27, 2016 |
| We are the 98%. Thanks to farmers and ranchers, from the rest of us | November 25, 2015 |
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