so this blog is a mess of re-posts --- TW: all of them, there are occasionally reblogs of triggering things and I haven't used tags, if it's safer for you, please don't feel obligated to stay.
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also 2001 for those of you who check age---
and DM me for my kinky Tumblr :)
His crops aren’t particularly unique (mostly corn, soybeans, and wheat) but his novel cover cropping tactics make his practice unconventional. In the mid-’90s, his farm started using several mixes of cover crops whose roots could break up the soil better than tilling while regenerating the chemicals, such as nitrogen, that are paramount to healthy soil. It was a breakthrough: less input was getting him more output, and his soil was as rich and wormy as ever. In his three-and-a-half decades of farming, he’s drastically decreased his use of fertilizers, fungicide, herbicide, and insecticide, and his land blooms in the offseason with all sorts of vegetation — sunflowers, radishes, various grasses, and more.
The Brandt family operates Walnut Creek Seeds to provide education and materials to other farmers (including backyard gardeners) on cover cropping, and aims to prescribe farmers the best cover crops for their land. He hopes, if anything, that his digital stardom gets more people interested in regenerative farming. “Dupont and Bayer don't care about you or your soil or our wildlife,” he says.
Scientist want purple petunias to be more purple. Purple petunias said “lol nah I’m gonna become white petunia and also help with aids research”. Like a boss.
This reminds me of the time that I asked if anyone had resources on the history of Shinto and while nobody had book recs, turns out an actual Temple Maiden followed me on Tumblr and was down to chat.
Dave Brandt was probably the longest running no-till farmer in the state; he'd been running his land no-till since 1971. He experimented with fertilizers, cover crops, and different irrigation techniques and he'd been doing all of that for a very long time.
The guy was an institution all on his own; look at this.
The “A” profile in his soil is now 47 inches deep compared to less than 6 inches in 1971 and acts like a giant sponge for water infiltration and retention.
From 1971 through 1989 David used an average of 150-250 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer per acre to grow his corn crops. After adding peas and radishes as a cover crop mix, he cut his nitrogen needs in half and was able to get it down to 125 pounds per acre.
When he added multiple species and became more aggressive with his cover crop mixes, he was able to achieve an additional drop in applied fertility. His starter fertilizer is now just 2 lbs of N, 4 lbs of P, and 5 lbs of K. His corn crop now only requires 20-30 lbs of N throughout the entire growing season. He requires no fertility for his soybeans, relying on fertility gained solely through his cover crops. He uses only 40 lbs of 10 N – 10 P – 10 K for his small grains.
Ten years ago (source study published 2019) David stopped using any fungicides and insecticides. This occurred at a time when fungicide and insecticide use has increased significantly with the average commodity farmer.
Four years ago he stopped using any seed treatment, including neonicotinoids.
His cash crop yields have been increasing by an average of 5% annually for the past 5-6 years, with far less fertilizer and no fungicides, insecticides or seed treatment.
What started as a basic heavy clay soils when David purchased the farm in 1971 have been officially re-classified by Ohio State University soil scientists as a highly fertile silty loam soil.
