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Protecting Soil Health has Immediate Economic Benefits for Farmers
Tue, 28 Jan 2025 | PRODUCTS
There’s been a growing focus on how soil health practices, like no-till farming, reduced tillage, and cover crops, cannot only help improve sustainability but also provide immediate economic benefits.
The Soil Health Institute, headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina, set out to confirm this when staff members interviewed 100 farmers in nine states who had been practicing no-till, using reduced tillage, or growing cover crops for at least five years. After conducting a partial budget analysis of the economic data gathered from the farms, the institute found that the answer to the question was a resounding yes: Implementing soil health practices can indeed be profitable. The nine states in the analysis are responsible for 71% of the corn and 67% of the soybeans grown in the United States. The states represented in the survey were Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Tennessee.
As reported by Successful Farming Magazine, in the study of farms where soil health practices have been used, net income increased for 85% of farmers growing corn and 88% of farmers growing soybeans. Some 67% reported achieving higher yields in all crops after adopting soil health practices than the yields they realized with their former conventional production systems. Farmers in the survey reduced the average cost to grow corn by $24 an acre and by $17 an acre to grow soybeans. Farmers surveyed increased net farm income by an average of $52 an acre for corn and $45 an acre for soybeans.
Recognizing the short-term and long-term benefits of good soil health to farmers, CEAT Specialty has emerged as a leading tire manufacturer in developing innovative solutions to protect the soil.
With farm machinery getting heavier all the time, tires are playing an increasing role in helping farmers operate the very large machinery while protecting the soil. For instance, CEAT Specialty is developing more and more Ag tires like the Spraymax with VF (very high flexion) and IF (increased flexion) technology. One of the most important developments in farm tires in recent years, VF tires have the ability to carry 40% more load or the same load with 40% less pressure. The gentler footprint of the Spraymax VF, designed for larger self-propelled sprayers, translates into less soil compaction and crop damage.
