Field & Garden: Crops, soil health in Foster County

Winter wheat, soybeans and grain sorghum were the common crops in northeast Kansas when I was growing up.

A field of corn was a rare sight. The corn varieties at the time didn't perform well during hot, dry Kansas summers.

We grew grain sorghum (also called "milo") because it was a reliable crop under our growing conditions. It also made reasonably good livestock feed.

That's not to say that grain sorghum didn't have problems. Timely pesticide application was needed nearly every year to control a type of aphid known as greenbug.

Another drawback was that grain sorghum is terribly dusty when ripe. Harvesting the crop was an awful job that no one enjoyed.

Times have changed. Travel back to northeast Kansas now and you will see few grain sorghum fields. Most producers in the area have adopted a corn-soybean rotation.

The dramatic shifts in cropping patterns aren't unique to Kansas. We've seen similar trends in this area too.

Twenty years ago, in 2001, the three leading crops in Foster County were wheat (110,000 acres), sunflowers (40,000 acres) and barley (26,000 acres).

Local producers planted just 18,000 acres of soybeans and 9,000 acres of corn that year.

In 2021 the three leading crops in our county were soybeans (161,000 acres), corn (89,000 acres) and wheat (32,000 acres).

Only 8,000 acres of barley and 2,000 acres of sunflower were reported in the county this past year.

Several factors have contributed to the changes in cropping patterns.

Improved genetics have increased the yield potential of corn and soybeans in northern regions.

Sunflower production has suffered from pests and diseases. And barley growers have been frustrated by the stringent quality demands of grain buyers.

While acknowledging the economic benefits of corn and soybeans, some producers are expressing concern that the current cropping system is causing soil health to decline.

In particular, the amount of salt-affected land seems to be increasing throughout Foster County.

One producer recently shared that when flying over the region, he was shocked to see large areas of some fields that were bare and not producing any crop because of salinity. "We just can't keep on like this," he said.

The increase in salt-affected land can't be blamed entirely on corn and soybeans. The main culprit is the wet cycle the region has experienced since the 1990s.

However, corn and soybeans contribute to the problem because it's difficult or impossible to establish a stand of these crops in salt-affected areas.

Evaporation increases in areas without a crop.

Evaporating water leaves behind salts which were brought up from deeper in the soil, resulting in even more salt accumulation at the soil surface.

One key to breaking the downward spiral of soil salinization is to get some type of vegetation growing on salt-affected areas.

Plants use up water before it reaches the soil surface, thus reducing evaporation and the build-up of salt.

A crop rotation that includes salt-tolerant crops such as barley, rye and sunflower can help in slightly saline areas.

Salt-tolerant perennial grasses are required in areas with higher salt concentrations.

If you would like more information about the management of salt-affected soil, please call the Extension office (652-2581).