Tennille, GA |

No matter what you’re growing, the health of your soil determines both the quantity and quality of your product. It’s a concept not lost on Eddy Turner, as he’s been spending years improving the condition of his farm through the use of numerous management practices, including the planting of cover crops.

“In the wintertime, we’re putting crimson clover, Persian clover, kale, daikon radish and oats. All that biomass when it’s mature in May, we mow it back down and put all that biomass back on the ground. Then we follow that typically with sorghum and we’ll plant no till sorghum in that land. Then in September, we will shred all of that sorghum back down and put all that biomass back down on the ground,” says Eddy Turner, National Soil Health Champion.

Despite all the hard work and patience that goes into it, the results speak for themselves as he’s been able to replenish the nutrients lost during growing season, while also setting these fields up for future success.

“What we’re doing is we’re trying to build the organic matter in the soil so that we’ll have improved water holding capabilities. Our soils here, they don’t hold water very well because of the low organic content. So, this field we looked at earlier this morning, we more than doubled the water holding capacity of that soil,” says Turner.

That’s just one of the soil conservation practices being done here on Turner Farm, which is why Eddy was recently became one of just five Soil Conservation Champions within the state. And those efforts extend to his biggest crop, more than a hundred twenty-five acres of Bermudagrass hay.

“Just like we’re building biomass on these fields of cover crops, we also try to build biomass on our hayfields by leaving them to grow at the end of the year. We don’t harvest right up until frost. A lot of people do, but we try to allow our grass to grow so that it’s got plant growth above the ground by the time frost hits in the wintertime. Then the energy that’s stored in that plant feeds the roots through the rest of the winter, makes it very robust when it comes out in the spring,” says Turner.

While these practices have obvious benefits to both the environment and ecosystem, it also can help boost the farmer’s bottom line. That was emphasized more than ever in 2024, as extreme heat and lack of rain were common throughout the state.

“This year, with the drought in June and now a drought in August, these are the years that doing this sort of thing gives you the greatest benefit. I would encourage anyone to look closely and if no till is possible for them, or certainly, if it’s not no till, minimum tillage so that you allow the soil, the roots to develop a network in the soil that will help with water infiltration and also help build organic matter in the soil,” says Turner.

By: Damon Jones