Lessons Learned from Twenty Years of Cover Crop and Soil Health Research and Extension
Dr. Charlie White is a faculty member at Penn State University, specializing in soil nutrient behavior and management.
He has taught various courses, including Soil Nutrient Behavior and Management, Internship, Independent Studies, Thesis Research, and Supervised Experience in College Teaching.
His research focuses on sustainable agricultural systems, biogeochemical cycles, and nutrient management to promote productive and efficient nutrient use in cropping systems.
In this presentation, Charlie will share some of the key insights into managing cover crops for nutrient management and soil health that he has learned through twenty years of research, much of it conducted in partnership with farmers in the temperate, humid climate of the Mid-Atlantic USA.
These lessons include the importance of measuring and managing cover crop and soil organic matter carbon, nitrogen, and C:N ratios to balance nitrogen retention and supply; that a little bit of grass in a cover crop mixture goes a long way to reducing N leaching; and that a cover crop mixture with balanced species proportions will be the most multifunctional, but achieving evenness in the biomass is easier said than done.
Finally, Charlie will return to his roots in reflecting on the importance of mycorrhizal fungi to the phosphorus nutrition of crops, and why P stratification in no-till system may not be as much of a problem as we think because of these symbiotic organisms.
