What is SOIL HEALTH?

Jay Castleman, Specialty Crop Market Manager • February 12, 2018

Without question, if nothing else, all of us in Agriculture have two things in common: we all grow something and we’re all striving for the best return on our investment!

One of my first questions I put to new customers is what are your objectives with your crop this season and what do you see as your obstacles between the crop and your goal? Well as you might imagine the answers are varied and specific to geography and the crop that is being grown. One answer that I wait for but rarely hear is “a healthy soil”.

The reason I look for that is because of the influence a “healthy soil” has on production and the efficiency of nearly all of our inputs. Let me explain but first let’s define what “soil health” is or at least what years of being in the field has taught me what it means.

Soil health is influenced by many things such as: soil structure, soil organic matter, soil pH, nutrient supply and balance, exchange properties, applied chemistry and biological health. It’s a synergistic existence between all of these production influences and our Agronomic practices. If we manage each well then we guard ourselves from limiting factors and we have created and opportunity for maximum production.

Take for instance soil structure! Soil structure has a tremendous influence on nutrient retention and exchange, soil porosity and the exchange of oxygen in the root zone, the fixation and conversion of nitrogen and nutrient migration to name a few.

Soil organic matter has great ability to hold nutrient, act as a soil buffer a great source of carbon and a nurturing environment for soil biology.

Soil pH is the gatekeeper where resident nutrient solubility is concerned and one of the first places we work on when creating a soil environment focused on efficient nutrient exchange.

Nutrient supply and balance is important not only so we can meet the nutrient requirement of the crop but more so to promote efficient exchange of the soil resident nutrients. Over presence of one nutrient can act as an antagonist or interfere with the effective uptake of another.

Applied pesticides or sterilants can impact soil health! Over use or misuse can lead to unwanted metabolite residues and destruction of soil biology.

Biological health, what many don’t realize, is that this is the gatekeeper or at least has great influence on all of the above. Truly, in crop production we have ignored probably the most important part of a heathy soil in years past. We have taken steps to reduce tillage and use cover crops and we apply far less soil applied chemistry today and this has helped greatly but we are finally paying attention to all of the unpaid workers in our operation: the soil biology.

Different species of biology reside in our soil and play very important roles in water and nutrient acquisition and assimilation, the health of the rhizosphere, influence on plant growth and plant health. Biology can even help a plant manage stress and tolerate the negative impact of pests and disease. This knowledge isn’t necessarily new but how we support soil biological health is.

NACHURS is a leader in this race, bringing valued biological products into the market. Products that add efficiency and in the end a healthier soil, a stronger crop and a better return on your overall investment. Our Rhyzo-Link line of products focus on those objectives and provide a variety of ways to introduce specialized biology into your treatment program.

Rhyzo-Link is a highly specialized package consisting of our high quality core nutrients which are then fortified with our Bio-K Technology and packaged with a highly specialized biological consortium . This product is BUILT with PURPOSE !

This HIGHLY SPECIALIZED CONSORTIM, as I call it, is an All Start Team of pure cultured, highly populated rhizobacteria tested and handpicked for their ability each individually and for the added value of their synergistic ability they bring into crop production.

This consortium can help crops acquire nutrients from the soil, even some nutrients that have been fixed for years. This consortium can help crops build bigger and healthier root systems which will in turn allow for a more effective acquisition and use of water and soil resident nutrient. This consortium can also trigger systemic responses in the plant that will impact stress mitigation and resist damage from disease and insects feeding. This consortium will support plant health and ultimately result in maximizing production opportunity and the efficient use of dollars spent.

Of all the big things that we work so hard on and do where crop production is concerned, it may all come down to a little more focus on the small things: the microbiology that brings it all together. Rhyzo-Link products, linking technology into the layers of crop production.

For more information on our NACHURS Rhyzo-Link products contact your nearest District Sales Manager, Sales Agronomist or visit our website at www.nachurs.com.


December 12, 2024
We are at the point in the year where things are slowing down around the farm and it is time to reflect on the season to remind ourselves what we learned. Over the last couple of weeks, the District Sales Managers and I have spent some time reflecting on what worked well in the field and the challenges we faced too. Here are the top 5 things we learned from 2024 growing season: #1 Split applying Nitrogen and Sulfur is a practice that should be embraced on a yearly basis when growing corn. Do you remember how the planting season started and what happened in the first 60 days after the planters started rolling? Our field conditions started out dry with some areas of the corn belt showing up on the drought map. Then mother nature blessed us with rain that never stopped in some areas making it difficult to finish planting. Growers that had split applied their Nitrogen and Sulfur were able to avoid nutrient loss from the rain but also apply the nutrients when the crop needed it most. In the end yield was better on split applied nitrogen fields compared to fields that had all the N applied in the fall or spring before planting. #2 For the past 2 seasons in the North region, we have seen the benefits of adding NACHURS Humi-Flex FA to the in-furrow starter fertilizer. NACHURS Humi-Flex FA is our fulvic acid and it is becoming a valuable component in our starter fertilizer for many reasons. We are using it to chelate the nutrients in the starter fertilizer especially phosphorus. Humi-Flex FA also buffers the soil pH to neutral in that nutrient band keeping nutrients available in fields that have less then optimal pH for crop growth. Finally, we use Humi-Flex FA to create a healthy soil microbiome that leads to more root mass and nutrient uptake. #3 Nutrient uptake charts for corn and soybeans have been a great tool for our team to help our customers visualize the crops nutrient needs based on timing during the growing season.
November 21, 2024
The importance of Phosphorus
August 27, 2024
Fungicide applications: the determining factors to be considered
August 20, 2024
Strategic Applied Fertilizer: Reallocation
July 30, 2024
The right nutrient source
June 25, 2024
The right nutrient source!
May 10, 2024
'Tis the Season
April 10, 2024
Wayne Becker, District Sales Manager & Agronomy Specialist Blending two NACHURS products (Triple Option® and Balance®) at a 1:1 ratio has proven to jump start soybeans and increase profitability. Many farmers would like to use in-furrow starter fertilizer with their beans but are uncertain of the benefits. When beans are first planted early growth is very important. • It is a race against time between soybeans and weeds, fighting for water, sunlight and nutrients. • The quicker a canopy is established, the less weeds are able to steal resources, which could affect yield potential. Traditional In-furrow fertilization of beans is usually not as easy to visually observe as when it is applied to corn or wheat. However, that does not mean that they are not extremely important. This treatment will provide early season fertility that will help the young crop remain strong and vibrant, enabling them to better deal with stresses like insects, drought or water logging. NACHURS liquid fertilizer has been providing the best in-furrow fertilizer treatments for 75+ years. With NACHURS in-furrow, producers have always been able to safely provide the traditional benefits without decreasing germination because of the fertilizer’s low-salt content and superior availability. New focus on plant and soil health has raised the bar even higher. The NACHURS Bio-K® line of fertilizers is the most available source of K on the market, yet it also promotes both soil and plant health. Because the Bio-K fertilizer is a carbon molecule combined with potassium, applying it in-furrow provides beneficial soil microbes with a food source. This enables microbes to increase nutrient availability – for all types of crops. Legumes use Rhizobia to “fix” their own nitrogen. NACHURS has developed a product specially designed to stimulate early development of these important soil microbes. It is called Balance®. We combine the rhizobia stimulating qualities of Balance with Triple Option which maximizes quantity of other nutrients. The result is improved potential for early season growth and greater profitability of soybeans
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