Building Soils for Better Crops, ix

ผ่านทางsare-BSBC – Windows Live.

Building Soils for Better Crops, 3rd Edition
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE).

The publication can be downloaded from SARE’s web site.
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education – Publications – Building Soils for Better Crops, 3rd Edition.
To obtain paper copies, contact SARE.

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* Front Cover.
* Contents.
* About the Authors.
* About SARE.
* Preface.
* Introduction.
* 1.Healthy Soils.
* 2.Organic Matter: What It Is and Why It’s So Important.
* 3.Amount of Organic Matter in Soils.
* 4.The Living Soil.
* 5.Soil Particles, Water, and Air.
* 6.Soil Degradation: Erosion, Compaction, and Contamination.
* 7.Nutrient Cycles and Flows..
* 8.Soil Health, Plant Health, and Pests.
* 9.Managing for High-Quality Soils: Organic Matter, Soil Physical Condition, Nutrient Availability.
* 10.Cover Crops.
* 11.Crop Rotations.
* 12.Animal Manures for Increasing Organic Matter and Supplying Nutrients.
* 13.Making and Using Composts.
* 14.Reducing Erosion and Runoff..
* 15.Preventing and Lessening Compaction.
* 16.Reducing Tillage.
* 17.Managing Water: Irrigation and Drainage.
* 18.Nutrient Management: An Introduction.
* 19.Management of Nitrogen and Phosphorus.
* 20.Other Fertility Issues: Nutrients, CEC, Acidity, and Alkalinity.
* 21.Getting the Most from Routine Soil Tests.
* 22.How Good Are Your Soils? Field and Laboratory Evaluation of Soil Health.
* 23.Putting It All Together.
* Glossary.
* Resources.
* Index.
* Back Cover.

Preface
Used to be anybody could farm. All you needed was a strong back . . . but nowadays you need a good
education to understand all the advice you get so you can pick out what’ll do you the least harm.
—VER MONT SAYING , MID -1900S

We have written this book with farmers, farm advisors,
students, and gardeners in mind, although we have
also found copies of earlier editions on the bookshelves of
many of our colleagues. Building Soils for Better Crops
is a practical guide to ecological soil management that
provides background information as well as details of
soil-improving practices. This book is meant to give the
reader a holistic appreciation of the importance of soil
health and to suggest ecologically sound practices that
help to develop and maintain healthy soils.
Building Soils for Better Crops has evolved over time.
The first edition focused exclusively on the management
of soil organic matter. If you follow practices that
build and maintain good levels of soil organic matter,
you will find it easier to grow healthy and high-yielding
crops. Plants can withstand droughty conditions better
and won’t be as bothered by insects and diseases. By
maintaining adequate levels of organic matter in soil, you
have less reason to use as much commercial fertilizer,
lime, and pesticides as many farmers now purchase. Soil
organic matter is that important.
Organic matter management was also the heart of the
second edition, but we decided to write a more comprehensive
guide that includes other essential aspects of
building healthy soils, such as managing soil physical
properties and nutrients, as well as a chapter on evaluating
soil health (chapter 22). In addition, we updated
farmer case studies and added a new one. The case studies
describe a number of key practices that enhance the
health of the farmers’ soils.
Many chapters were rewritten, expanded, and reorganized
for the third edition—some completely. A chapter on
physical properties and issues was divided into two (chapters
5 and 6), and chapters were added on the principles of
ecological soil management (chapter 8) and on irrigation
and drainage (chapter 17). The third edition, while still
focusing on farming and soils in the United States, has a
broader geographical scope; the book has evolved into a
more comprehensive treatise of sustainable soil management
for a global audience. We have, however, maintained
the use of English units in the book for the convenience
of our original target audience, although many readers
outside North America—and scientists like us—would
perhaps prefer the use of metric units.
A book like this one cannot give exact answers to
problems on specific farms. In fact, we are purposely
staying away from recipe-type approaches. There are just
too many differences from one field to another, one farm
to another, and one region to another, to warrant blanket
recommendations. To make specific suggestions, it is

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