Soil Health Labs

Stan Boltz, a USDA NRCS rangeland management specialist in South Dakota for 33 years, describes how healthy soil and cattle grazing management can reduce invasive species, bring back native rangeland and increase stocking rates. Listen to the podcast interview with Robin “Buz” Kloot on Growing Resilience podcasts or Soil Health Labs podcast.

“Here in South Dakota, we always say we’re two weeks away from a drought. Having your soil in good condition in wet years helps store more water than having it runoff. You get through a really dry year pretty well.” Larry Wagner, a rancher who grows grass in cropland country southeast of Chamberlain, SD, has readily shared his journey to grassland health. Hear Larry's seasoned wisdom on promoting...

The Stockgrowers is a wonderful organization trying to do some great things, trying to help ranchers and help our independent cattle producers of this country and trying to save our rural towns, which are in decline. And so we need to help these things economically and ecologically. And I think those things can all work together in the future to help save the ranching industry and save our way of...

This podcast is the sixth in the series 6 “Resilience” podcast series. We recorded this one in Crooks, SD the backdrop was the extremely wet weather on 2019. In this podcast, Kent Vlieger (NRCS-SD) facilitates a discussion with farmers Kurt Stiefvater, Ryan Larson, Nate Stroschein, Ross Hanson and SDSU’s field soils specialist Anthony Bly. We wanted to feature this episode because we were struck b...

This podcast is the fifth in the series 6 “Resilience” podcast series we recorded in Mitchell, SD (podcasts 1-5) and Crooks (Podcast 6), the backdrop was the extremely wet weather on 2019; at the time of recording the James River had frozen outside of it’s banks and there was every expectation of another wet summer. In this podcast, farmers Charlie Edinger, Daniel Harnisch, Craig Stehly and Bryce...

This podcast is the fourth in the series 6 “Resilience” podcast series we recorded in Mitchell, SD (podcasts 1-5) and Crooks (Podcast 6), the backdrop was the extremely wet weather on 2019; at the time of recording the James River had frozen outside of it’s banks and there was every expectation of another wet summer. In this podcast, farmers Charlie Edinger, Daniel Harnisch, Craig Stehly and Bryce...

This podcast is the third in the series 6 “Resilience” podcast series we recorded in Mitchell, SD (podcasts 1-5) and Crooks (Podcast 6), the backdrop was the extremely wet weather on 2019; at the time of recording the James River had frozen outside of it’s banks and there was every expectation of another wet summer. In this podcast, farmers Charlie Edinger, Daniel Harnisch, Craig Stehly and Bryce...

This podcast is the second in the series 6 “Resilience” podcast series we recorded in Mitchell, SD (podcasts 1-5) and Crooks (Podcast 6), the backdrop was the extremely wet weather on 2019; at the time of recording the James River had frozen outside of it’s banks and there was every expectation of another wet summer. In this podcast, farmers Charlie Edinger, Daniel Harnisch, Craig Stehly and Bryce...

This podcast is the first in the series 6 “Resilience” podcast series we recorded in Mitchell, SD (podcasts 1-5) and Crooks (Podcast 6), the backdrop was the extremely wet weather on 2019; at the time of recording the James River had frozen outside of it’s banks and there was every expectation of another wet summer. In this podcast, we are joined by farmers Charlie Edinger, Daniel Harnisch, Craig...

In this episode, we sit down with Jesse Hall out of Arlington, South Dakota to explore his journey into no-till, cover crops and livestock integration! 

We sit down with regenerative farmers Barry and Eli Little out of Castlewood, South Dakota to discus soil health, cover crops, livestock and economics.

In this podcast, we sit down with soil scientist Dr. Ray Weil. Dr. Weil is a leader in researching and promoting the adoption of more sustainable agricultural systems in both industrial and developing countries. His research focuses on soil organic matter management for enhanced soil ecosystem functions and nutrient cycling for water quality and agricultural sustainability.

Dr. Kristine Nichols is a world-renowned leader in the movement to regenerate soils for healthy food, healthy people and a healthy planet. Hear our chat with Dr. Nichols where she unpacks the benefits of regenerative agriculture for healthy soils in this second part of our two-part interview.

Dr. Kristine Nichols is a world-renowned leader in the movement to regenerate soils for healthy food, healthy people and a healthy planet. Hear our chat with Dr. Nichols where she unpacks the benefits of regenerative agriculture for healthy soils!

USDA-ARS Soil Scientist Dr. Mark Liebig shares with us his insights on crop diversity and the benefits of dynamic cropping systems.

Mark Liebig, Research Soil Scientist with the USDA-ARS in Mandan, ND shares with us some of his insights on crop diversity.

Dwayne Beck, Research Manager at the Dakota Lakes Research Farm, sits down with us to discuss everything soil health... or as he likes to put it, "soil resiliency"!