Journal Entry 1: Winter Soil Monitoring
Hello, I am Conor Croskery and am the fall 2022 Climate Smart Farming intern at DFI. I graduated from UNR with a degree in mechanical engineering and have been exploring sustainable agriculture, soil science, and hydrology while taking graduate courses with the eventual goal of applying for a graduate program in a related field of study. After volunteering and being part of the summer farm crew at the Desert Farming Initiative (DFI), I was selected for an internship focusing on climate smart farming. I will be sharing information about my experience and the climate smart farming internship over the course of this academic year.
Dirt’s not that interesting, right? Wrong! Sorry, I mean soil. Soil health is the foundation of a sustainable and productive farm, and monitoring your soil conditions helps determine what your soil needs to be healthy and offers insights into ways you can improve your farm management to leave the land better than when you started farming on it in the first place. Why is this particularly important in Nevada? We live in a unique climate with unique soil conditions that make agriculture challenging, and there are very few organic farms that have enough resources to be able to do experiments like these. By doing experiments like this one, DFI can find what works best for our specific conditions, climate, and ecology, then pass on the information to other local farms to help them farm smarter.
My current project which started this October at DFI is monitoring soil conditions such as moisture, temperature, and salinity in one of the hoop houses. In order to do this, I prepared six trial beds to test the effects of crop residue, cover crops, and bare soil on the aforementioned variables over the winter in what we call hoop house six. Dr. Paul Verburg was gracious enough to act as the advisor for this independent study and supply the sensors and data loggers. As well as offer advice on what to look for in the data, and guidance on how to bury and process the data from the sensors. A quick overview of the project is as follows:
- 7 sensors in each of the 6 test beds in hoop house 6(HH6), with the 7th sensor being deeper than the other 6 and under the 3rd sensor
- Sensors will be placed in HH6 in the root zones of the chosen cover crop
- Prepare two beds each with cover crop, bare soil, and crop residue.
- Water one of each bed and leave the other without irrigation.
- Water both cover crop beds until all cover crop varieties develop true leaves. Then cut the water to one of the beds.
- Collect the data from the data loggers once a week to make sure they are still collecting data
- Compile and analyze the data using equations from a research paper provided by Dr. Verburg
Over October I cleared out the forest of trellised tomatoes that grew over the summer in the hoop house and prepared the beds for sensors and data loggers. With some help from DFI crew members, clearing out the tomatoes was quick – only taking a few days total – and we all turned a nice shade of lime green in the process from all the tomato sap. Next was to prepare the beds for the trial. We removed the tomato plant debris from four of the six beds. Tomato plants in the remaining two beds were cut at the base and laid on the beds to act as crop residue. We had to cut these plants at the base to be able to remove a landscape fabric mulch that had been used to manage weeds over the summer.
Then cover crop was seeded in two of the cleared beds using a walk behind Earthway Seeder. The cover crop seed mix was determined based on previous cover crop trials done at DFI. The sensor depth was determined by the average root zone depth of the cover crop varieties. The brassicas, cereal rye, and oats have a deeper root zone at around 2 m compared to the triticale in the mix, which has a root zone of up to 70 cm. However, most of the roots of any of these plants can be found within the top 20 cm of the soil and so by placing the sensors at 15 cm and one per bed at 30 cm. We will get data more representative of what the plants are growing in than if we buried them at the extremes of the root zones. After seeding the beds I had to be careful to cover them with row cover so they were not damaged by the freezes and had enough heat to germinate. Thankfully even with the cold nights, the beds had good germination and the cover crops emerged from the ground quickly! Dr. Verburg came out to the farm to help install the sensors and check that they where properly set up. Once installed – wires are threaded through blue tubes to prevent rodent damage. In one hectic morning, we installed half of the sensors and took soil samples of the hoop house for DFI to use for its annual testing. The final step was to program and plug in all the sensors to the data-loggers that will take moisture, electrical conductivity, and temperature readings every ten minutes. On a drizzly fall day, I listened to the wind blow and water fall from inside the hoop house as I installed all the data loggers.
I think what I’ve learned most from the start of this project is just how much work it takes to set up and coordinate an experiment like this. It seemed straightforward on paper, bury sensors in the ground, then collect and process the data. But the coordination with different groups and actual leg work of setting up the hoop house have definitely been the majority of the learning experience so far. I’m looking forward to the first set of data that we will get!
Journal Entry 2: Winter Soil Monitoring
Even before the start of this project, the hoop house for this experiment has demonstrated water distribution issues. Through one particular increase in irrigation volume during this project, we were able to see how soil moisture behaves during a ‘flood event’. The irrigation water barely reached the far end of the hoop house (beds 1 and 2), further confirming uneven distribution.
As a top priority we decided to install a new main irrigation line that could deliver a more constant and appropriate pressure and volumetric flow rate, as well as installing new drip tape that is thicker and less likely to degrade and leak. So, on a warm and sunny winter day a fellow crew member and I went about replacing the main header line. And on an inversely blusteringly cold and snowy day; we replaced the drip tape with the new thicker lines.
November and December were spent mostly valuating data and maintaining equipment. This was objectively the most interesting part of the experiment. Unexpected equipment challenges also affected the project: for example, Sensor 22 connected to Datalogger 3 malfunctioned, and Dataloggers 1, 2, and 4’s batteries unexpectedly died from the cold. This limited the timeframe for which we could graph consistent data, but we were still able to evaluate initial results.
Some of the notable/interesting finds from the data are that the irrigation water moves more quickly through the higher layers in the soil profile(≤15cm) than the lower layers(≥30cm) hinting at a hard layer lower in the soil profile. The moisture level in the beds – ignoring irrigation events – hovered around a constant 0.2-0.4 m3/m3 even in the non-irrigated beds. This is probably because water is infiltrating laterally into the non-irrigated beds from the irrigated beds, as well as from outdoor precipitation events.
I wrote a final report to tie up the end of my independent study with Dr. Paul Verburg and DFI to further document results and recommendations. Phase 2 of the experiment will be taken over by another intern, and I will be moving on to pursue a Master degree in hydrology.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Journal Entry 3: Perennials!
Hello, I am Ben Peters and the spring 2023 Climate Smart Farming intern at DFI. Perennial crop production in Northern Nevada has a mixed reputation. Some years trees, vines, and other woody perennials in the Truckee Meadows burgeon with fruits to where you cannot eat it all. Other years, late and early frost damage flower buds and young plants making commercial production unreliable for many perennial crops in Northern Nevada. Although it can be challenging, perennial crops are promising components of fruit and vegetable farms in a changing climate. Read more here about how perennials play a role in crop diversification, intercropping, agroforestry and soil health. Here is an update on DFI's current work on perennial crops...
Apples
DFI hosts research in climate-adapted cider apples, partnering with community members and Dr. Melinda Yerka, a UNR plant breeder. Twelve varieties were collected from Washoe Valley and the Carson Valley where some of the trees have lived since the late 1850’s. Valley settlers planted orchards tucked up against the east slope of the Sierras to salvage any precipitation coming over into the arid sagebrush steppe. These plants have been in the climate for well over 150 years making their genetic profile particularly interesting to the team for acclimatization of traits beneficial to northern Nevada, such as: late bud break and blossoming, early maturation of fruit, and or tolerances to environmental factors such as heat. I helped to collect scions with Bill Sharp in Washoe Valley where we harvested from 6 trees all close to 30 feet tall, beautiful and gnarled in places, with no signs of the more extensive previous orchards. All of the trees were on private property - with one right next to Highway 395. Hopefully within the year the varieties will be genotyped by Dr. Yerka for to identify unique traits and characteristics, and maybe including a few for a tasty cider! The trees are being established in the Jessica Younger Dickens Memorial and Research Orchard. Last year 75% of the newly grafted trees survived so the orchard is a mix of 2 year old and one year old trees. This year, trees will be replaced or regrafted to existing rootstocks in the orchard around late April or May.
Grapes
DFI has also been working to establish a network of wine grape vineyards in several sites around Nevada. Riesling grapes were the selected variety for the sites – it is native to the German and Austrian alps, is cold hardy, and has proven to be resilient in Nevada's hot, dry summers as well. The sites are on public and privately owned land, with a range of 10 to 370 Riesling vines at each site. The vines were provided by the Nevada Grape Growers and Winemakers association in 2022. Some replacements vines will be planted Spring 2023, along with new network sites being established in Silver Springs and Las Vegas. This network will provide a foundation for demonstration and long term research.
Hops
Hops or Humulus lupus are used in breweries and for medicinal uses in the region, and DFI is establishing a demonstration planting of hops this spring! Three varieties will be planted and used as shading in a new outdoor classroom at DFI. The area which once was a hoop house will have Cascade, Nugget, and Fuggle hops planted on the perimeter, then trained up trellising on the inside of the existing arch ways. We selected Cascade and Nugget for their high levels of alpha acid which give beers more pine or citrus flavors, and Fuggle has lower alpha acid levels and adds more mellow earthy, and vegetal flavors to a beer. Traditional trellising for hop production uses a “V" shape to make harvesting easier for mechanized harvesting. The arches we are planning to trellis to are not out of the ordinary though: many people grow hops along arches over entryways to gardens or on balconies and decks for shading in the summer. Harvesting of the hop cones will be easy since the cones will hang into the classroom area. A total of 30 bines are slated to arrive in May, and these will be in ground before June. Hops can grow up to 20 feet tall so the area will be well shaded in years to come as the hop rhizomes grow underground and generate new bines every season. We'll be evaluating the performance of these varieties and their irrigation requirements going forward.
Journal Entry 4: Soil Health Practices
Mahatma Gandhi is credited with saying, “To forget how to dig the Earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” With the specialization and nuance of people in modern societies, individuals often cannot tell you where the food they eat was grown, much less the health of the soil it was grown in. The health of soil and production of food has been a keystone for every civilization in history, and testing soil health is an important part of any garden or farm and with proper maintenance, and amending your soil can sustain not only you but generations after. At DFI, we’re looking into the future of our soil by prioritizing practices, like the ones laid by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (3) and the Soil Health Institute (2) : Minimize soil disturbance; Keep soil covered; Maximize plant diversity; Maximize the period of living root growth (3). Each of which has an important role in strengthening the soil’s physical, chemical, and biological make up.
Minimization of soil disturbance is integral to allow for plant’s roots to grow in order to promote water and nutrient acquisition. One practice that DFI implements to minimize our disturbance to the soil is reduced tillage (1a). By only disturbing the top layer of soil roots can stay intact deeper in the ground and provide organic matter for the soil microbiota to consume and start the formation of aggregates, little conglomerates packed with organic matter and nutrients for plants to eat up ( I think of them as a plants protein bar, very densely packed energy). With tillage practices – the formation of these aggregates can be stunted since the microbes are unable to finish breaking down all the roots.
Soil compaction can also decrease the fertility of soil. Stepping in beds, tractor tires, and poor soil structure can cause or lead to soil compaction stunting root growth so make sure to maintain pathways and till only when necessary. Keeping soil covered even when not in production is an important practice to preserve the soil’s top layer where loads of organic matter, important for microbes and plants. Erosion from wind can strip the top layer, soil erosion is among the easiest things you can prevent by using cover crops. Cover crops are plants only used for the protection of your soils in the off season or for fallow and they increase the retention of nutrients. DFI has looked into different winter cover crop options in our fields and hoop houses (1b), but a tarp or mulch can be just as effective when covering soil. Cover crops have the advantage of adding organic matter to the soil and erosion happens fast even in one season. While soil testing after this especially harsh winter season I noticed that erosion was more prevalent on rows left uncovered. A dry, cracked light-colored top layer of soil about a centimeter thick covered the more nutrient dense soil underneath.
Maximization of diversity in your production creates polyculture productions, which act more as an ecosystem. The individual plants play off each other helping with nutrient cycling, and pest management. Diversity is an important part of feeding the microbes in soil since they don’t always want to eat corn wheat roots, just like you aren’t always eating cornflakes or Wheaties. I am learning that the diversity of root matter in a single garden bed produces another environment in itself where chemoautotrophs make roots that dissolve organic compounds for next seasons growth and methanotrophs then break down methane for their energy. Introduction of legumes with nitrogen fixing rhizobacteria will increase nitrogen in soils without the use of fertilizers, making them good options for cover crops to replenish the soil during the off-season. When thinking of diversity – I think in terms of plant taxonomic families: Solanaceae for peppers tomatoes and other nightshade relatives, Fabaceae includes lots of beans and other nitrogen fixers, Asteraceae includes lettuce and many ornamental flowers and Brassica host to radish, mustard, broccoli and many more. Diversity is important for the build up of the ecosystems you want to help protect your garden.
The last practice for healthy soil is maximizing the period roots that are living and interacting with the soil. This can be difficult in the high desert of Nevada with our shortened growing season. One recommendation is starting your seeds as transplants and then moving to a hoophouses or some covering for beds in the early season. When plants interact with soil, they alert microbes and mycelium to create networks with plant roots to increase nutrient availability to the plants. With more time, the networks created will become stronger and more diversified making networks readily available next season when new plants go in the ground. In the late season letting plants die off, leaving them over winter, and then terminating them above ground allows the networks to stay intact for the microbes to continue eating in the Fall and Winter as the top decays and sugars are relocated to the roots. I just helped the DFI Farm Manager terminate a mixed species winter cover crop by crimping and tarping - a great example of leaving roots in the ground and minimizing disturbance.
Soil remains an enigma of sorts for me, there is lots of knowledge and research into soils to help maintain their amazing ability to sustain us and how they provide for whole ecosystems. However, soil is still a frontier in science and is a discipline requiring multiple fields of science to study and understand the complex interactions taking place in it all the time. When working with soil at DFI, I have been able to put cover crop management, soil monitoring, and cash crop diversity practices into action and add practical knowledge to my book learning. I think our future relationship with soil can only improve as we learn more about caring for the earth and ourselves.
Work Cited:
- Desert Farming Initiative: Climate smart farming practices: https://naes.unr.edu/dfi/climate-smart-farming.aspx; Winter cover crop research: https://naes.unr.edu/dfi/research-analysis.aspx?PubID=4152;
- Soil health institute: https://soilhealthinstitute.org/resources/
- Woodyard, J., & Kladivko, E. (n.d.). Four strategies to improve your field’s soil health - purdue university. Four Strategies to Improve Your Field's Soils Health. Retrieved April 8, 2023, from https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/AY/AY-363-W.pdf
Journal Entry 5: 2023 Climate Forum
I had the pleasure to participate in the Nevada Farm Networks Climate Forum for Fruit and Vegetable growers across Nevada. The Nevada Farm Network is a group trying to connect farmers across the state to help expand the knowledge base for farming in Nevada. This year the event had over 70 participants with a majority on zoom and some participants in-person. Amazing growth from last year with 13 participants. Hosted by DFI at the Knudtsen Resource Center, the forum included a panel of experts: Climatologist Dr. Steph McAfee, Soils expert Dr Paul Verburg, Horticulturalist Dr. Felipe Barrios-Masais, Nevada Department of Agriculture Drought Initiative Program Director Christopher Moreno, and Regenerative Agriculture expert Charles Schembre. Along with speeches from Crystal Leon from the Nevada Farm Networks Leadership Committee, and DFI’s Jill Moe and myself talking about what DFI does to forward knowledge of climate smart farming practices with positions like the Climate Smart Farming Internship.
Dr. McAfee gave her presentation on the climate predictions for the season. While extrapolation is hard with the climate, a sure thing is this summer will be hotter. This can be either an overall warmer summer, or a couple weeks where we question “How can it get this hot?” But with this winter’s snowpack filling reservoirs, hopefully a hotter summer won’t affect much of Nevada, except parts of the South and Northeastern state. Currently soil moisture is on a case-by-case basis for region since there is disagreement on whether higher elevation soils are holding water or not at this moment, valley soils are holding water from run off and rains meaning established perennials can have limited irrigation or lower irrigation frequency in this early season with high available water. Overall expectation for this year is good water supply with higher-than-average heat in the summer.
The presentation for the farm network from Crystal Leon touched on the importance of creating a network for growers and producers to draw from and use to help create more efficient network to spread climate smart practices in the state. The network host events like the forum to help educate and connect farmers. With this year’s participation increase a bolder network has been established hopefully encouraging more growth for next year’s Climate forum. Jill Moe showed available resources on DFI’s Climate Smart Farming webpage. I spoke on some of the work I do at DFI learning about soil health and maintenance, cover-crops, and establishment of climate adapted apples.
For the final 20 minutes the panelists answered questions asked by growers, mostly questions about measuring water use efficiency, water availability, and regenerative practices. For future forums more time will be allotted for questions and discussion with the panel. A successful event for the Nevada Farm Network and DFI, the event recording is available online at: https://unr.zoom.us/rec/share/9p3ZBc4dC3bMpeQftcev_psWmt1fGf49SY4dyLKTG6R_1h1TTgxOCBcJtncjken1.FuHQ_NjN_vSEsyiT.
DFI is grateful for support from the University of Nevada, Reno Foundation that makes this important work possible. A 2022/2023 Pack Partnership Grant includes funding for this internship and other Innovative Student Employment at the Desert Farming Initiative.
