Larry Zibilske: Water as It Relates to Use Efficiency, Soil Fertility & Crop Nutrition

Most talk of water amongst farmers is about quantity, too little or too much. This noted soil scientist and eco-farming consultant will show attendees how to consider the role water source and its chemical makeup affect soil fertility, crop nutrition, foliar feed efficacy, and more. As water becomes scarcer quality is often reduced. Learn of plant energy as it relates to movement and utilization of water. He will also discuss the effects and interactions of specific elements and compounds found in water supplies including sodium, calcium, magnesium and carbonate and how these and other elements can lead to chronic crop health problems.

Dr. Larry M. Zibilske holds degrees in microbiology and soil science from Texas A&M and a Ph.D. in soil microbiology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He was a faculty member at the University of Maine, where he started the first research and teaching program in the state’s history in soil microbiology and biochemistry. He focused on the roles of soil microbes in agriculture and on ways to increase soil organic matter. In the 1980s, he and a colleague spearheaded the establishment of the first sustainable agriculture curriculum at a land grant university. Dr. Zibilske departed as a tenured professor to return to Texas to continue work on soil organic matter management and practice with the USDA-ARS research center in Weslaco as senior research scientist. When that facility closed in 2012, he joined Texas Plant & Soil Lab as vice president of research.

Recorded at the 2014 Acres U.S.A. Conference, Columbus, Ohio, Friday, December 5, 2014.