Episode 24 - 4: Drought Resilience: Does Subsoiling Pay? with Dale Strickler of Regenerative Wisdom Part I

How functional and drought-resilient is your soil? Is your soil a week away from a drought and an hour away from a flood?

Dale Strickler of Regenerative Wisdom talks with Jeff Ishee and Eric Bendfeldt about ways to increase drought resilience moving forward. Dale draws on his experience and expertise as a farmer, cattle rancher, college soil science instructor, and current agronomist to provide sound information for restoring soil function so the soil can hold water and allow water to infiltrate.

Does tillage and subsoiling pay and make soil more drought-resilient? Dale states that tillage and soil disturbance make farmers very susceptible to drought. In many cases, farmers think they are moving forward with deep tillage and subsoiling to remove a mechanical barrier. However, subsoiling can increase the sealing of the soil surface and decrease soil porosity so oxygen and water are less available to plant roots.

For more information about Dale's books on drought resilience and the overall mission of Regenerative Wisdom, please visit https://www.regenerativewisdom.com/

To access two years of the 4 The Soil: A Conversation podcast archives and additional resources on soil health-building principles, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/. To learn about the Virginia Soil Health Coalition, visit https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. We would love to hear your stories and the ways you are addressing drought resilience and soil health on your farm or in your garden.

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.