Browse Commercial Soil Stories

As climate issues capture governmental and public attention — from the effects of methane emissions to weather extremes — it is incumbent on the world to take action. Experts in UGA's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are focused on helping residents address climate challenges in ways that will benefit the environment and ensure both profitability and sustainability for industry.

For decades, farmers who have embraced conservation production have seen increased soil health, reduced irrigation demands and lowered economic risk. For the past 17 years, Georgia farmers interested in adopting new conservation practices for their farms – including those looking to swap best practices with other conservation tillers – have gathered at Georgia’s annual Conservation Production Systems Training Conference.

Like many other young people, plant pathology graduate student Russell Ingram’s friends have an epic road trip planned for this summer. The difference is that instead of setting off for a music festival in the desert or visiting a beach, Ingram’s pals are hitting the road in search of jobs.

J. Scott Angle, former dean and director of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, received the Earl Douglas Harris Memorial AGHON Award from AGHON at UGA. Angle, who now serves as president and CEO of the International Fertilizer Development Center, is one of only a few to be given the award in the past 30 years.

Women own 13.6 percent of America’s active farms and their farms produce almost $13 billion worth of goods each year. Just like male farmers, they need access to business and technical information to help make their farms successful. But while many pride themselves on not needing a “women’s only” class on how to work the land or run a business, many other women simply feel more comfortable learning around other female farmers.

In home lawns, a routine soil test will help reveal any underlying issues relating to soil nutrition or pH. This is often the first step to ruling out any problems like thin spots and dead patches.

Large- and small-scale farmers can learn the latest information about no-till planting at the University of Georgia’s No-Till Field Day, slated for Oct. 23 at Buffalo Creek Straw & Seed Farm in Oglethorpe County.

Home gardeners who plan to give their garden spot a rest this fall can plant seeds now to help next summer’s garden. A University of Georgia expert says planting a cover crop during this fall will add precious soil organic matter and nutrients that will benefit garden soil later.

Learn the basics of composting on April 19 at Rock Eagle 4-H Center’s Saturday at the Rock event.

Looking back, it's easy to see where farmers in the 1800s went wrong. Attempting to grow profits from a lush environment, landowners cleared entire forests in the South to make room for agricultural farmland. But primitive agricultural techniques scarred the landscape, and when the profits dried up, they abandoned the barren land. Now University of Georgia researchers want to understand the ongoing repercussions of a bygone era.