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Growing pecans in the desert?
Down to Earth: The Planet to Plate Podcast
English - November 16, 2021 15:38 - 49 minutes - 39.7 MB - ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsEducation Science Natural Sciences agriculture climatechange farmers farming food ranchers ranching regenerative scientists sustainable Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
In today's podcast we look at the synergistic collaboration between a soil scientist and a pecan farmer.
Southern New Mexico is not an ideal landscape for pecans, which grow best in warm, wet climates. But the industry is here, and Josh Bowman has determined to grow a healthy and abundant crop by focusing on the soil. Using cover crops and grazing animals, he's been able to increase the life and organic matter in the soil, and to produce a greater yield and a higher quality nut—while using less water.
David Johnson was a contractor who at mid-life decided to change careers and became a microbiologist, specializing in the soil microbiome. He collaborates with farmers like Bowman to increase the quality—and quantity—of the soil with an eye not only to improved health and profits for the farmer, but also to climate change mitigation as carbon is sequestered in ever-healthier soils. Johnson and his wife Hui-Chun Su developed the Johnson-Su bioreactor, a composting system that yields a potent, microbe-rich compost that is a soil-friendly and cost-effective alternative to synthetic fertilizers.