JC Conservation tour: honey bees, controlling trees, soil health

The weather was perfect for the Jewell County Soil Health – Conservation Tour last Wednesday..

Nearly 40 interested producers boarded a charter bus to learn about honeybees, site preparation for a rangeland burn, soil health principles, rotational grazing and cover crops.

Gee Bee Honey hosted the tour for the first stop. Robin Griffeth discussed their start with honeybees.

Jorge Garibay, North American Pollinator Alliance founder, explained the history of honeybees in North America – "the creation of the United States can be found in the footsteps of the Honeybee." Jorge also explained his work with regenerative farmers in the Midwest. He believes that bees are "not dying off in this country, nor in the rest of the world, but they are running out of habitat." According to the Department of Agriculture, one-third of the foods in the U.S diet relies on bees and other pollinators.

Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.), were brought to the east coast of North America in 1622. It would take 231 years before the honeybee would reach the west coast. "They were needed to pollinate the European seeds and saplings that the immigrants brought with them. They made the environment more acceptable to the imported livestock by helping to spread white clover and other English grasses."

Chad Simmelink reviewed the steps needed to prepare native pasture for a burn to control brush and cedars. Clearing the pasture of brush and trees along the boundary of the property and then mowing is recommended to aid in controlling a burn. Cooperation with neighbors is also important. The conservation district hopes to have this property on next year's tour after the burn is completed.

Candy Thomas, NRCS regional soil health specialist, had Slake Jars to visually demonstrate the differences in soil with low biology, because of a lack of soil health principles, versus soil with all five principles.

The five soil health principles are:

Limited Disturbance – any form of soil disturbance reduces the soil's ability to function.

Soil Cover and Armor – Armoring the soil protects against wind and water erosion and evaporation.

Living Roots – Soils are most productive when soil microbes have access to living plant material.

Diversity – Diverse plants on the surface promote diverse soil biology.

Livestock Integration – Nature does not function without animals.

The Rainfall Simulator, with trays of soil from local fields and rangeland, was set up to show the tour participants the difference in both runoff amounts and how much rainfall each tray could absorb. Participants were surprised by how little rainfall the conventional tillage tray actually absorbed!

Pickups and a hayrack took participants through a native pasture to cover crop fields managed by Zach Bruns. A grazing chart is used to plan, and then stick with a plan, to rotate cattle thru several fields planted to a cover crop mix. The benefits of grazing both rye and cover crop mixes were explained.

The last stop were two fields of cover crops planted by Greene Farms Inc. One field had cover crop planted into failed wheat and the other planted into an older stand of alfalfa.

Producers who provided the stops on the 2023 Tour were Robin and Deb Griffeth; Bartcher and SK Squared; Brett and Beth Walker; Zach and Jennifer Bruns and Greene Farms Inc.

The following organizations made financial contribution to help make the tour possible: Kansas Department of Agriculture – Department of Conservation; Kansas WRAPS-Kansas Alliance for Wetlands & Streams; Kansas Association of Conservation Districts and Star Seed.