Blog Posts by DATE, newest first (also SEARCH)
Blog posts and Articles by TOPIC:
Columbia Basin Agriculture
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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
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
| 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