This EcoTea Soil Health Discovery Project was created to assess how variations in biological and chemical inputs, as well as rotational practices, affect soil health metrics, crop productivity and nutrient efficiencies over a three-year period. We are researching both our own EcoTea biological seed and soil inoculants and other inputs, plus their year-over-year impact on soil health metrics and whether farms can achieve consistently higher profitability while reducing spring applied fertilizers.
During the 2023 crop year, the second in the three-year project at Discovery Farm Langham, the EcoTea Soil Health Discovery Project will include field peas, canola, monocrop canola and intercrop of peas and canola (pea-ola). Overton Environmental Enterprises Inc. has partnered with NuEarth Soil Solutions, Imperial Seed and Blair’s Crop Solutions to create the EcoTea Soil Health Discovery Project.
The 2023 Crop Year Plan
The 15-acre plot is divided into six input regimes ranging from a conventional/standard regime with full chemical and fertility, to a regime with radically reduced chemical input using high biological input, plus variations of the two. In addition to the 15-acre plot, a two-acre plot with high salinity is also a part of this project. This saline plot allows for experimentation with different biological and chemical applications to see how rapidly that area can grow profitable crops again.
Overton chose to explore a six-plot trial, seeding all plots with two one-acre strips. Each of the six plots had the following specifications:
Plot 1. Growers Standard Conventional Program, 100% rate of granular fertility. All plots will have herbicides applied as per scouting recommendations.
Plot 2. Growers Standard Conventional Program, 30% fertility reduction from Plot 1.
Plot 3. EcoTea Biological Seed Dressing and Residue Digestor Inoculant with 30% fertility reduction.
Plot 4. EcoTea Biological Seed Dressing and In-Furrow Inoculant with 30% fertility reduction.
Plot 5. EcoTea Biological Seed Dressing and In-Furrow Inoculant with 50% fertility reduction, including a Granular and Liquid Fertility Blend.
Plot 6. EcoTea Biological Seed Dressing, In-Furrow and Residue Digestor Inoculant with 50% fertility reduction, including a Granular and Liquid Fertility Blend.
Lessons from 2022
During the 2022 crop year, the primary objective was to benchmark soil health metrics on the site and assess the in-season impacts of varying intensities of biological applications. Being a drought year, all plots yielded below average standards for spring wheat, but all plots that had EcoTea soil inoculants applied out-yielded the conventional full fertility plot by 20% or more. This can be primarily attributed to the increase in drought tolerance due to the larger root mass that results when plants establish a relationship with diverse beneficial microbes from the time of germination to harvest. Many other secondary benefits of biology contribute to these results as well.
Participating at Discovery Farm Langham provides a site where Overton Environmental Enterprises can showcase how EcoTea products contribute to farm profitability while researching various biological and chemical input regimes.
Access the Discovery Farm Langham Field Reports
The Field Reports are an annual overview of all activities that happened at Discovery Farm Langham during the growing season including demonstration research, events and knowledge transfer.