 Okay, my name is Jeff Hemingway. I'm the soil health specialist with NRCS. I'm actually going to do a rainfall simulation But one of the first things I like to do before I even get started is is take the mystery out of rainfall simulation I'd really like to do that by doing what? Well passing out some samples and I always like to do samples and It's okay. I do catch and release on soil so you can take a sample and if you want to look at you Look at that sample and compare it to that one You see any differences here between between these soils Any differences at all? Kind of passes around but the point I'm really trying to make here today is that that these are the same soil In fact, you'll see this later on the tour right across from each other The first soil that I gave that has this this definite structure, etc. Is the stack rotation Corn corn bean bean wheat wheat of lots of residue, etc The other one is a continuous corn from across the road And at some point you look at that soil structure and you go boy, they do look somewhat different What about you know, you see this macro pores over here? You see that pore structure? You don't see that in that tilled sample and how does that? How does that that function? How does that how does that change that function? How does that change the hydrology? It has to do with that biological integrity We're going to be talking a lot about that here today at some point You need to realize that soils function with soil biology that life within that soil is critical And we need to be able to feed that within that system We need to be able to maintain it and there's a number of things that we actually do within soils That are going to degrade that in other words if we don't feed that system If you don't have diversity within that system if you do tillage We can talk about earthworms if you want to kill earthworms you do tillage why it's really simple Go through with the tillage tool you destroy their home and them and your reduced numbers as much as 90% So with a tilled system we're going to reduce those organisms that create what? Macropores, etc within that system. What does that have to do with the hydrology? If you reduce hydrology and we increase runoff on those sites, what happens? At some point you end up with less biomass in other words less Production on that field also you end up with a degraded site such that at the bottom of the hill you'd say well Gee we go further east we have a lot of people say I need to tile my land You really need to tile your land or do you need to change management so that when that raindrop hits that soil? It actually moves into the soil profile instead of runs off Those are some changes. We really need to make now at some point We also need to be talking about some other things today and I brought some samples with these samples and This is our slate test and what I'm going to do is is that stack rotation is Immersed this cloud and one of the first things you're going to actually see Is that as I immerse that cloud there's air in other words you see the bubbles coming out Etc. There's air in soils in other words. It's about half pore space. All right so that pore space either is made up of water and or air and At some point the integrity are in other words How how how how that sample is else actually held together really has to do with the function of that biology that rotational system that we've Implemented in addition to that that conventionally tilled over here If you look at how it see the bubbles coming out again, how did that that structural integrity? Is is put together within that sample in other words do we have that those? polysaccharides or those Glycoproteins that that hold that sandstone clay together if they're not present what happens? Degrades it very rapidly and as it degrades very rapidly. What do we end up with a? Plugged soil surface we end up with increased runoff decreased infiltration on that particular site Changing that hydrology again the biology has a lot to do with a hydrology hydrology has a lot to do with biology They're interrelated that plant community is absolutely necessary You got to get it right to end up with something that's going to be what? Functioning within that soil profile now I really like doing this test because it's it's pretty visual you can see how that that soil sample actually breaks down if it doesn't have that The that cohesion for that aggregate stability within that system Now as I go through this and talk some more about this we'll be looking at later today We'll be talking more about soil profile, but it impacts that whole soil profile that whole system and you can see that over time within the profile With that I'm going to actually turn on the rainfall simulator over here But before I do that I'm going to explain a little bit how this works Some people here in the in the audience have probably already seen this before But today I've run a couple other samples today. These are samples Primarily from here in other words off the station. So what we've done is is looked at Differences in management and we'll explain that first. Let's talk about the rainfall simulator rainfall simulator Basically is set up to put on about an inch and a half of water in the next 10 15 minutes All right actually designed by dr. Paul yasa down the University of Nebraska probably in the early 90s 91 92 something like that So when we get questions about the rainfall simulator, I say, you know, he still works for the University of Nebraska You can call him it's pretty easy thing to do and at some point That functionality is really designed to really simulate that rainfall event Inch and a half of water if it hits the soil surface, what happens? Well, it either goes into the soil in other words call that infiltration or it moves off and we call that runoff and runoff Actually in the rainfall simulator will actually go Once it hits the the flat if it does runoff It goes through this front funnel and it will end up in the front jar each one of the samples Same thing happens it goes through the that pan it ends up being caught by a catchment pan underneath and That catchment pan directs all that infiltrated water into the back set of jars pretty straight straightforward In other words runoff goes in the front set of jars Infiltrated water goes into the back All right the samples. Okay, you'll see these on the tour today This again is conventional till from across the road Here is a really simple corn bean rotation right across the alleyway from each other corn bean rotation Simplified rotational system. You can see the corn residue on the surface The other one we have here is as I have that clot over there. That's that stacked rotation corn corn bean bean wheat wheat Of course, there's corn on it this year. We've got wheat residue on the soil surface This is a sample that I just brought with we really want to talk about library systems so I put in a cover crop sample within in the run and We need to talk about perennials as being very beneficial within our rotational systems. This is a switchgrass sample that's pulled right here So perennials cover crop Stack rotational system diversity Yeah, not diverse at all Some of us would even question whether that's really your rotation and then non rotational conventional tilt system. Okay? Let's turn it on and see what happens here One of the first things I guess I really like to talk about on Systems is is that when we look at conventionally tilled systems? What's going to actually happen to that soil if we allow that kinetic energy to actually hit the soil surface? Well, a rainfall event has a lot of energy in it and if it hits the hits the Soil surface that kinetic energy has exerted on the soil surface and does what well It goes through a process of what we call detachment in other words You see that that soil actually is detached it bounces up the air at some point having a lot of energy You can see that that many times blown up over here We've got a raindrop hitting the soil surface and if you go through that detachment process and then end up with Runoff starting to occur we call that transport that detachment and transport process We know as water erosion that water erosion Is a degrading soil process we absolutely do not want that to happen within our systems We want to build soils And if that actually is occurring then of course We've already made one step back and we want to try to move forward in building healthy soils Now you can actually see that detachment actually occurring here And if you've got any kind of residue on the soil surface to see that that we don't end up with that detachment But you can see that that soil splash on the backboard here Actually starting to occur and as I was just explaining this process You could actually see that if you allow that kinetic energy to hit the soil surface and do not have either residue or a growing canopy in between To absorb that energy what happens the process unfolds Almost immediately it starts to occur And you can see that happening within that conventionally tilled system What I didn't tell you also is what also happens is Beside the erosion process is that detachment is occurring, but we also have a reorientation of those soil particles on that soil surface You can only imagine that we have Pores within the matrix and macro pores on that soil surface And if you end up with soil movement and reorientation on the soil surface It does what it plugs those macro pores and if it plugs those macro pores then we end up doing what? Increasing runoff and decreasing infiltration something that we don't want to have occur Again getting back to how does that soil function some real basics on how that actually works? I handed out those soil samples before you just got a look at some of those I want you to do that as you continue to go on the tour today as you go home you go on the field Pick up that claw look at that soil. Do I have macro pores develop if I don't if I don't have that granular structure I don't have those macro pores develop. What do I need to do to get to that point? I need to change something within that system it happens not only on agronomic systems, but it happens on our grazing systems also we can degrade those soils Just because they have grass on does not mean that they function the way they're supposed to that they're managed the way They're supposed to okay You know I talked a minute ago about a little bit more about that soil function But but you know when we really start talking about that soil biology, you know We don't know is very much at all and in fact it always amazes me when I go over and talk to the microbiologist I say well, you know Dr. Lehman over here that ARS we really started talking about mycorrhizal fungi and they have what they call Operational taxonomic units in other words basically the species of mycorrhizal fungi and you go Well, what are the good guys and at least you know within the mycorrhizal fungi? And he can kind of really tell you a little bit more about that a lot of the other organisms We still don't know a great deal about we don't know As much as we could or should about the soils that that we manage every day And at some point do we know that some of those micro organisms are they function better? Do we know that that some of them are well not very functional and yet they're very prevalent within some of our agronomic systems? Yeah How do we increase those guys? Well, we know that certain crops of the rotational systems oats as an example We'll give you more diversity within that that mycorrhizal fungi. So at some point We do understand a little bit more about what we think we do as far as Biology, but it's at some point. We really need to gain a lot more knowledge Whether it be within the agency I work for or other land grant universities for the longest time We've looked at chemical and physical properties of soils and really basically ignored Biological function. We're starting to learn a little bit more about that. We really need to pay attention to that Within soils, you know, I talked a minute ago about it being half-war space But I want to talk just a minute more a little bit about that organic matter at some point We understand that a lot of that are gaining matter is stable There's some of it that that's readily decomposable at some point. That's really what the what I call the holy grail We're trying to get some soil tests that that function to give us a measure of that But what I wanted to point out today more than just about anything else is at some point We need to realize of that organic matter portion of our soils three to nine percent of that is actually living material That can be a phenomenal difference Especially if we get into systems where we've degraded the amount of our gang matter give me the example if we plot up the per We know that we've lost 40 to 60 percent of that organic matter I've lost 40 percent to 60 percent of their gang matter, but I've lost More than that of these guys the live living biomass, right? Within our molecules, we know that we've lost that not just within the plow layer But we've lost that are getting matter deep within that profile So it's not just the two million pounds on that acre for a slice that we're talking about we're talking about lower in that profile Also, this can be phenomenal. This is tons of organisms that we've degraded out there on that landscape At some point we need to keep in mind that if that's really the case Why do we see a native rain sites that we don't need to have additional nitrogen fertilization? Because that system functions on its own We've not degraded that within that native system And if we can get to the point where we can do that on our agronomic systems boy What a game that we're going to actually make Ray's going to talk some more about that later today, and I'm going to turn this thing off and we're going to look at some samples Does management make a difference? Those of you that were listening to me probably learned less than those of you really paying attention to this and what I want You to do is really look at this today. Okay? conventionally tilled system the runoff infiltration Very little and we'll see that some of that's probably prefer a preferential flow Not as diverse a rotational system Look at the amount of infiltrated water back here comparative runoff is Well, maybe a little bit less with this one, but look at what we have a live root systems. What happens? Pranials within that system is That going to make a difference on function? Absolutely look at the amount of infiltrated water Unbelievable differences. Okay? Of course, I'm a soils guy So I like to flip things over and look at what we've got going on underneath and talk a little bit more about this because at some point I really believe that you know, we talk about granular structure and people need to maintain granular structure But for in essence and a lot of our agronomic systems, especially in tilled systems Producers if they walk on say well, I've got good granular structure. It's subangular blocky massive and or pleady structures what they have They don't have granular structure And you need to have perennials. You need to have that versi within that system to get that structure Okay, here's my diversional till rotational system. And by the way, I did put on about a Little more than I had wanted it was since it's about an inch and three-quarters something like that But let's just look at the soil profile that we have in the pan that we collected the other day and see what it looks like And it looks like what you would really expect to see at least from my standpoint We we we what we see is that what I call that really black cottage cheese that that granular structure This is what we really want to see in that profile. All right Under conventionally tilled systems. You see this on the surface How that surface is degraded because of that that poor aggregate stability You can see that why did it run off? Well, it degraded sealed over it took off Really straightforward really simple. Yeah Why is it dry on the bottom? It didn't infiltrate it ran off These soils are so long as they should have about two inches per foot water holding capacity I put on an inch and a half this flat is only two inches deep It should infiltrate water If it doesn't infiltrate water runs off Is that going to impact production? Absolutely Pretty straightforward huge differences in the amount of runoff huge What also goes with that system? All my soil sediment Any air protection products I put on Except for leave. That's an economic loss to producer. Also. It's a what water quality issue So this is a win-win for the public and that producer if we can stop that from occurring Here's my perennial. This is that switch grass. We collected yesterday If you really want to see what granular structure is supposed to look like Look at that in that perennial system That's what it's supposed to look like if you want to have infiltration if you want to have function within your soils Pull out a sample and look at that soil structure doesn't have macropores. Is that good granular structure? If it's not there, you're doing something wrong within the system You need to change something so that you end up with that system so that functions As we go to the field and we'll be going to field in a few minutes here We're gonna be looking at something that this is a as a demonstration that we take out I pull samples all the time for folks at some point We need to recognize Not only the differences, but how are you going to measure that in the field and we're gonna go out on that that rain site We're gonna use an infiltration ring And I've got some kits here if you're interested in doing this when you get back You want a kit to take home try this on your own monitor? I've got a number of those with today But at some point, how do I end up measuring that? On my own place Well infiltration ring is really simple to use. We drive that three inches into the soil We put in a piece of sulfane put on an inch of water pull out the sulfane measure the time it takes to infiltrate You're gonna monitor site you do that consistently over time We're kind of getting on what I call on the outside window of that opportunity right now In other words, I like to do that when I have actively growing crops early in the season if I'm doing us on any tilt system It's once I get that crop established and growing. I don't want to have that confounded with the issues of of tilled loose Systems in other words it needs to be settled back down again, but at some point this is a way to do that I've got some fact sheets to go along with it within each one of these kits There's a set of instructions and what you need to do the analysis at least a couple of times And at some point if you need more rings, etc. Give me a holler I always like doing this demonstration I think that it hopefully makes the impact on not only how you think about soils But how you're going to measure success in the future in your systems We've got a lot of people doing no-till systems now in South Dakota. Are they diverse enough? A lot of them are not Do we see problems with soil structure and infiltration within that systems we do Do we need to change those or tweak those systems? Yes, we do But we need to realize that by looking at field infiltrations Okay, I think I'm done here for right now and what we need to do is Go over to the rain site and look at the profiles over there