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Manure injection better for soil health

A University of Wisconsin Extension researcher encourages farmers to preserve soil and nutrients by minimizing soil disturbance.

Chris Bandura is the extension conservation cropping outreach specialist.  He tells Brownfield tillage makes soil more vulnerable to erosion losses and the loss of nutrients including phosphorus, but what about manure injection? Bandura says, “There’s some logistical hiccups if you will with low-disturbance manure injection, primarily surrounding how high of an application rate can we apply when using a low-disturbance manure injection route into other forms of injection, but it’s a great alternative to surface (application) followed by tillage.”

Bandura says reducing soil disturbance improves water infiltration, water storage capacity, nutrient cycling, and overall soil health.