When producers think performance, they most often think about crop performance. How well did the crop emerge? Was it drought resistant?
Did it yield well?

But soil performance is also a key element to the overall success of a farming operation. A soil’s performance is directly related to a soil’s quality or health.

A healthy soil will do a better job at:

• Resisting erosion
• Cycling crop nutrients
• Supporting root growth
• Infiltrating water
• Sequestering carbon.

Read more about Soil Performance & Crop Residue

Also Residue Systems and Tillage Management

Learn more about Strip-tillage and read profiles of Iowans who use this conservation practice: http://www.ia.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/StripTill.html

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Resources to help you save soil:

AgDecision Maker An agricultural economics and business web site containing information and tools to aid in farming operations.

Transition to No-till: Iowa Learning Farm information sheet

Economics of Residue: Iowa Learning Farm information sheet

Water Quality and Conservation Practices: Iowa Learning Farm information sheet

Energy (tillage) Estimator A tool from Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) developed to estimate diesel fuel use and costs in the production of key crops in your area and compares potential energy savings between conventional tillage and alternative tillage systems.

I-FARM integrated crop and livestock production and biomass planning tool

Information about soil quality: Conservation Resource Brief (NRCS)

Web Soil Survey: Web Soil Survey (WSS) provides soil data and information produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey. It is operated by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and provides access to the largest natural resource information system in the world.