Views of an agronomist on soil, farming, and science. Evidence-based agriculture. Blog posts and Twitter.
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Blog Posts by DATE, newest first (also SEARCH)
Blog posts and Articles by TOPIC:
Columbia Basin Agriculture
Cover crops and cover crop mixtures
Crop diversity and biodiversity
Crop rotation
Ecology, Agroecology, and Agriculture
Feeding the world
Fertilizer, nutrients, nitrogen
Green manures
Manure and compost
No-till, strip-till and related
Organic farming
Pesticides
Philosophy of agriculture
Regenerative agriculture
Soil health
Sustainability of agriculture
Other
Irrigated Agronomy Posts
Articles
Cover Crop Mixtures, Biodiversity, and Agriculture, Crops & Soils Magazine, Nov-Dec. 2021
Blog Posts by Topic
Columbia Basin Agriculture
| Potato Cropping Systems to Manage Soilborne Disease | February 7, 2023 |
| The Fallout of October Rains in the Desert | November 1, 2016 |
| Questioning the Value of Soil Health for the Irrigated Arid West | August 21, 2014 |
| Cold + Dry = Winterkill : 2013-14 Winter in Review | June 18, 2014 |
| The Sustainability of the Columbia Basin’s Irrigation System | June 2, 2014 |
Cover crops and cover crop mixtures
| 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 |
Crop diversity and biodiversity
Crop rotation
| 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 |
Ecology, Agroecology, and Agriculture
| 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 |
Feeding the world
| 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 |
Fertilizer, nutrients, nitrogen
| 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 |
| 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 |
Green manures
| Big Biomass and More Often; A Green Manure Frequency Hypothesis | October 25, 2018 |
| Without big biomass, green manures are a step backwards | October 9, 2018 |
| Green Manures, The Other GM crops | March 13, 2018 |
Manure and compost
| A Problem with Soil Inoculants | November 22, 2022 |
| 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 |
| Study Shows Soil-Building Benefits of Manure and Crop Rotation, so why didn’t they say so? | June 27, 2013 |
No-till, strip-till and related
| Concentrate Organic Matter at Surface to Improve Soils | April 30, 2014 |
| Cover the Soil for Quick Benefits | October 16, 2013 |
| No-till Does Not Reverse Soil Degradation? | March 14, 2013 |
Organic farming
| 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 |
Pesticides
| Comparing effects of herbicides, fertilizers, and tillage on the soil | December 8, 2016 |
| Hamstrung by Ideology | December 20, 2012 |
Philosophy of agriculture
| The Benefits of a Reductionist Approach | July 25, 2023 |
| Soil (health) evaluation begins by asking “What’s the problem with my soil?” | July 9, 2019 |
| Crop rotation: In praise of deliberate, sequenced disruption of natural systems | December 1, 2016 |
| Stepping, rather than jumping, towards sustainability | September 25, 2012 |
Regenerative agriculture
Soil health
Sustainability of agriculture
| 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 |
Other
| 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 |
| 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 |
Email: andrew.mcguire@wsu.edu
Phone: 509-754-2011, Ext. 4323
Office address:
1525 E Wheeler Rd,
Moses Lake WA 98837