12 Resilience (Salinity, Small Grains)

This podcast is the fourth in the series 6 “Resilience” podcast series we recorded in Mitchell, SD (podcasts 1-5) and Crooks (Podcast 6), the backdrop was the extremely wet weather on 2019; at the time of recording the James River had frozen outside of it’s banks and there was every expectation of another wet summer. In this podcast, farmers Charlie Edinger, Daniel Harnisch, Craig Stehly and Bryce Rabenhorst discuss salinity (a big issue in the James River Valley). Salinity is a multifaceted, long-term problem that needs understanding – the farmers talk about the use of perennials, livestock and the use of annuals to mitigate salinity, but it must be understood that there are no easy fixes. Young farmer, Bryce Rabenhorst asks his fellow farmers advice on how to include small grains into the rotation and keep the cash flow going. Charlie, Daniel, Craig and Bryce are joined by Kent Vlieger (facilitator) Brent Woods and Eric Barsness from the NRCS in South Dakota and by Sara Bauder from SDSU. If you’d like to our selected video material from these conversations, please visit SD NRCS’s 'Growing Resilience with Soil Health' playlist on YouTube. This podcast was made possible by sponsorship from the USDA-NRCS in South Dakota. The views and opinions of the farmer participants expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. The USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.