Excerpt
Soil survey reports contain much information intended for use by farmers, the primary managers of agricultural soils. Information in the reports is very helpful to a farmer who is trying to become acquainted in a general way with soils in a county or on a particular piece of property. The reports also can be useful to the farmer making long-term land use decisons; they clearly point out many limitations to land use. But the language and form of the reports make it much more difficult for most farmers to apply the information therein to practical, short-term decisions, even though the reports contain much detailed information about various soils.
Farming, of course, requires many different kinds of management decisions. The effects of many decisions are long term. They involve establishing an overall pattern for the farm. Other decisions are made on a day-to-day basis, frequently requiring on-the-spot judgments. Of all the necessary decisions, a large percentage center around the soil, its use, its potential productivity, and its fragility.
To what extent then can the county …
Footnotes
James R. Lukens, past-president of the Kansas Organic Producers, operates a 610-acre farm in north-central Kansas. He is also completing work on a master's degree at Kansas State University. Contribution 82–432-T, Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University, Manhattan, 66506.
- Copyright 1982 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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