Comment: 21:21 - 22:50 (01:29)
Source: Annenberg/CPB Resources - Earth Revealed - 15. Weathering and Soils
Keywords: "Wayne Soppeland", "Rick Aguayo", "Mojave Desert", soil, weathering, crop, erosion, water, "soil management", agriculture, "U.S. Soil Conservation Service", irrigation, "soil survey", farming
Our transcription: For farmers in the Mohave Desert the issue of soil management is a matter of ongoing concern.
There are multiple factors that threaten soil and crops in this region ranging from erosion to limited water resources.
Because of the complexity of these soil management issues, farmer, Wayne Soppeland, turned to the Soil Conservation Service.
Rick Aguayo who works for the Service, then made the first of several trips to Soppeland's farm.
His immediate goal, to analyze the overall situation and come up with a soil conservation plan.
We discussed what was needed in this area and what conservation practices I already had in place.
And he made certain suggestions on how things could be improved, and we went on to creating a plan out of those suggestions.
Once we get him to make the decision, "Yeah I want to have a conservation plan," we need to determine what his objectives are, what's he plan on doing with the property now, 5, 10 years down the road.
Once we do that, we start evaluating what the resources are: what the soil resources that he has to work with, what are his farming operations, his irrigation system.
At the heart of the conservation plan is an in-depth soil survey to determine the precise kind of soil on Soppeland's farm.
Once Aguayo analyzes this, he can recommend a very detailed set of conservation practices.
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