Surface Fermentation (Flächenrotte): Building Organic Matter, Tilth, and Fertility
CEUs are available for this episode
Innovations in cropping systems management CEUs: 1
Organic farming tends to involve lots of tillage, but tillage can reduce organic matter and soil tilth, making future tillage passes harder and hurting plant health. Fertility can also be limiting on larger scales if farmers don’t have access to enough manure.
A new covercrop/tillage technique from Germany is catching interest because it can build organic matter, improve tilth, and raise fertility. “Surface fermentation” (Flächenrotte in German) involves growing dense covercrops, then in a single pass lush covercrops are sprayed with a microbial inoculant, flail mowed, and incorporated with shallow tillage. The lush covercrops provide high-energy fuel for microbial fermentation, with nutrients fixed onto soil colloids. And the shallow tillage (2’’) preserves roots for future microbial inoculation into the surface layer.
This technique is popular with organic field and vegetable crop farmers in Europe because it can raise organic matter, improve tilth, and provide fertility for cash crops.
Join us to discuss this surface rotting technique, and regenerative soil management generally, with farmer and soil nerd Tenzin Botsford. Tenzin farms in Northern WI and has been implementing many innovative soil management techniques on his farm. This episode will help advisors who want to explore how tillage can be a force for soil health and fertility.
This is a free Zoom Event!
SPEAKERS
Tenzin Botsford
Tenzin Botsford grows 10 acres of organic vegetables with his wife Stacey, five dedicated employees, and two formidable children at Red Door Family Farm in Athens, WI. He loves learning and implementing innovative techniques for soil health management and covercropping. Tenzin sees these practices as a key for growing the healthiest and most nutrient dense crops possible at a mechanized scale.
Tenzin began to obsessively study soil health and put multiple ideas into practice six years ago. Beginning with covercropping and mineral balancing, Tenzin eventually learned about a style of surface composting utilizing fermentation principles, and the many different techniques finally galvanized into one cohesive strategy.
Sam Oschwald Tilton, Facilitator
“I have worked with organic farmers all over the US and Canada to understand production systems and solve weed management issues. This past season, on farms and in winter conferences, I spoke with as many farmers and ag professionals as I could to understand the questions that organic producers have, and the experts that they’d like to learn from. Those conversations helped me identify the topics and guests for this series. I am excited to bring together a wide range of farmers and ag professionals from many backgrounds, all of whom have an experienced perspective to share. In each call I look forward to having an intelligent conversation with the guest that introduces the topic to those who are unfamiliar and also dives deep to bring further understanding and clear tips to listeners. After the conversation, we’ll take questions from listeners, so that they can communicate directly with each guest to get the answers that they need. My goal for this call series is to provide crucial information on topics facing organic and transition-curious farmers, in an approachable conversation that listeners can easily listen to during their lunch hour.”
“Tillage has been called the black eye of organic. So I am excited to explore a new soil management technique from Germany that shows promise as a tillage pass that can increase SOM, tilth, and nutrient availability. Our guest has been implementing Surface Rotting and other innovative techniques on his farm, and I know this will be a neat conversation.”
This event is supported through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP).
TOPP is a program of the USDA Organic Transition Initiative and is administered by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) National Organic Program (NOP).