Farmer soils his undies

FLORENCE TWP. — It turns out dirty underwear isn't all that bad.Erie Conservation District's Breann Hohman and farmer Dale Daniels buried pairs of tighty whities in area fields two months ago to test soil health.[toutembed=02gxto]If the underwear was discovered to be almost completely destroyed, it means the soil is healthy and vibrant with life hungry for the natural cotton. If the majority of the underwear survived, however, it would be a sign of poor soil health."It's about doing the right thing," Daniels said. "The healthier our soils are, it's just the better our environment is and better for everybody health wise too." Regaining biological communitiesIt's taken more than five years for Daniels to recover the health of his fields after decades of conventional farming. He's not the only farmer battling soil degradation. America's soil has lost more than 50 percent of its organic matter, Hohman said. This has led to farmers needing to vigorously till, or dig up and churn, their land and apply pesticides and fertilizer to artificially strengthen their crops.In a field lined with corn near Wakeman, Hohman and Daniels dig up one of the tighty whities on Friday, September 1, 2017.This conventional method of farming has led to a decline in biological activity of the soil, Hohman said.Hohman compared the tilling to the recent Hurricane Harvey. Disrupting the soil by churning up the land multiple time every year is the equivalent of a large hurricane destroying a community on a consistent basis."Imagine if Houston got hit by that size of Hurricane every year," Hohman said.With excessive disturbances, all of the residents would move out, similar to how the microorganisms, insects and worms essentially "move out," of die off, of the farm fields.With just the waistband exposed, Dale Daniels begins to shovel out the rest of a pair of underwear he planted to test the health of his farm's soil. Using other methods has allowed Daniels to revitalize his fields' biological health."We are really trying to help rebuild our soils," Hohman said.Tighty whities reinforce conservation effortsNot much is known about the biological aspects of soil, Hohman said. But on Friday, Hohman and Daniels sought answers.The Register joined the pair as they dug up four buried pairs of underwear from four different fields to test soil health.Erie Conservation District's Breann Hohman holds up fragments of a pair of underwear that was eaten by soil microbes in a farm field near Wakeman. Depending on the field's health, the underwear would either be completely destroyed or remain largely intact. If the soil is healthy and vibrant with microbial and insect life, the underwear shouldn't survive. Among the results:Field No. 1: Maintained using traditional, modern-day methods, this field is tilled each year and left bare in the winter. The now-brown tighty whities were mostly intact.Field No. 2: This region was last tilled in 2005 and has never seen a cover crop. Underwear buried here had several holes but remained recognizable. The underwear samples show the progression of soil health in Dale Daniels fields near Wakeman on Friday, September 1, 2017. Field No. 3: Featuring no tillage and years of cover crops, this field reduced the underwear to a nearly unrecognizable state. Just a few strands of cotton are all that remained. Field No. 4: It's been 18 years since this field received any tillage, but plants were present during the previous six years. Just a few thin seams of the underwear were recovered.For Hohman, it's clear conservation efforts are making a positive impact on soil health."We actually found what we thought we would find," she said. "It's a good test to see whether or not there is life in the soil."Sustainable farmer Dale Daniels hands an underwear sample to Erie Conservation District's Breann Hohman on Friday near Wakeman. Conservation efforts pay offFor Dale Daniels, sustainable farming goes beyond the money in his pocket.This year, Daniels and his wife, Rita, were honored with the Ohio Conservation Farm Family Award, co-sponsored by Ohio Farmer magazine and the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. Beyond his farm, Daniels makes an effort to educate other farmers to adopt sustainable practices."We have a commitment to keeping our soils in our ground and keeping them out of Lake Erie," Daniels said. "That's good for all of our sake." Erie Conservation District's Breann Hohman holds up a former pair of underwear that was destroyed by worms, insects and microbes that live in the soil of a farm field near Wakeman.