Originally published in The Canton Repository. Original article available here.
Curious eyes have been scanning how Cliff Linder and some other Stark County farmers have been taking care of their soil.
A five-year study called Stark Sustainable Soils Initiative is a project of the Ohio State University Extension Program and the university’s Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration.
Its purpose is to gauge how land management practices of local farmers impact soil health, crop production and the quality of nutrients.
Linder operates a beef cattle and grain farm in the 7000 block of Nickel Plate Avenue NE in Nimishillen Township.
Linder grows “mostly hay,” he said. “Every four or five years I rotate them. We go to corn, soybeans, wheat and back to hay. They (the research team) check it on the first 6 inches, then the next 6 inches. They analyze it to see what nutrients are there, like potassium, phosphorous, nitrogen, zinc and copper, how much carbon is in the soil.”