Use and vegetation
Muck soil is used for growing specialty crops such as onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes.[ citation needed ]
| Sapric | |
|---|---|
| |
| Used in | WRB, USDA soil taxonomy, others |
| WRB code | sa, HSsa |
| Parent material | Organic matter |
A sapric is a subtype of a histosol [1] where virtually all of the organic material has undergone sufficient decomposition to prevent the identification of plant parts. [2] [3] Muck is a sapric soil that is naturally waterlogged or is artificially drained.
The soils are deep, dark colored, and friable, often underlain by marl, or marly clay.[ citation needed ]
The World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) defines "sapric" (sa) as a histosol having less than one-sixth (by volume) of the organic material consisting of recognizable plant tissue within 100 cm of the soil surface. [4]
Muck soils fall under the Organic Order in the Canadian system of soil classification. [5] Muck soils are organic soils, with at minimum of 30% organic matter and a depth of at least 40 cm. [5]
In the USDA soil taxonomy, sapric may be a subtype of a haplohemist or glacistel type, and may also be a diagnostic organic soil material where the fiber content is less than one-sixth of the volume. [2] Muck soils are defined by the USDA NRCS as sapric organic soils that are saturated more than 30 cumulative days in normal years or are artificially drained. [6] An example would be a soil made up primarily of humus from drained swampland.[ citation needed ]
Muck soil is used for growing specialty crops such as onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes.[ citation needed ]
Muck farming on drained swamps is an important part of agriculture in New York, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Florida, where mostly vegetables are grown. The muckland of Torrey Farms of Elba, New York, which covers the counties of Orleans, Niagara, and Genesee, is thought to be the largest continuous section of muckland in the world. [7] another large tract of muckland, known as the Black dirt region, exists in the lower Hudson valley. American "muckers" often have roots from the Netherlands or Eastern Europe, where their ancestors practiced a similar type of farming. Holland Marsh, north of Toronto, Ontario, is the site of the Muck Crops Research Station, a part of the University of Guelph.[ citation needed ]
Muck farming is controversial, because the drainage of wetlands destroys wildlife habitats and results in a variety of environmental problems. It is unlikely that any more will be created in the United States, because of environmental regulations. It is prone to problems. As the soil is very light, windbreaks are necessary to protect these fields in dry weather. It also can catch fire and burn underground for months. Oxidation also removes a portion of the soil each year, so it becomes progressively shallower. Oxidation also discharges carbon dioxide. Some muck land has been reclaimed and restored as wetlands for wildlife preserves.[ citation needed ]
The impacts of drainage and agricultural production cause the loss of organic matter in muck soils through erosion, oxidation, and other processes collectively referred to as "subsidence." Agricultural practices such as cover cropping and reduced tillage can significantly reduce subsidence, but can not reverse it. Muck soils are in essence a non-renewable agricultural resource. [8]
The word muck has much usage in the English language, referring in some cases to agricultural soil, and in others to dirt in general, and animal dung (sometimes human feces) in particular. Origins are probably from Norse, Danish, and Proto-Germanic roots referring to cow dung. [9] [10]
Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming, is an agricultural system that uses fertilizers of organic origin such as compost manure, green manure, and bone meal and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting. It originated early in the 20th century in reaction to rapidly changing farming practices. Certified organic agriculture accounts for 70 million hectares globally, with over half of that total in Australia. Organic farming continues to be developed by various organizations today. Biological pest control, mixed cropping, and the fostering of insect predators are encouraged. Organic standards are designed to allow the use of naturally-occurring substances while prohibiting or strictly limiting synthetic substances. For instance, naturally-occurring pesticides such as pyrethrin are permitted, while synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are generally prohibited. Synthetic substances that are allowed include, for example, copper sulfate, elemental sulfur, and ivermectin. Genetically modified organisms, nanomaterials, human sewage sludge, plant growth regulators, hormones, and antibiotic use in livestock husbandry are prohibited. Organic farming advocates claim advantages in sustainability, openness, self-sufficiency, autonomy and independence, health, food security, and food safety.
Chernozem, also called black soil, is a black-colored soil containing a high percentage of humus and high percentages of phosphorus and ammonia compounds. Chernozem is very fertile soil and can produce high agricultural yields with its high moisture storage capacity.Chernozems are a Reference Soil Group of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB)
No-till farming is an agricultural technique for growing crops or pasture without disturbing the soil through tillage. No-till farming decreases the amount of soil erosion tillage causes in certain soils, especially in sandy and dry soils on sloping terrain. Other possible benefits include an increase in the amount of water that infiltrates into the soil, soil retention of organic matter, and nutrient cycling. These methods may increase the amount and variety of life in and on the soil. While conventional no-tillage systems use herbicides to control weeds, organic systems use a combination of strategies, such as planting cover crops as mulch to suppress weeds.
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers.
USDA soil taxonomy (ST) developed by the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Cooperative Soil Survey provides an elaborate classification of soil types according to several parameters and in several levels: Order, Suborder, Great Group, Subgroup, Family, and Series. The classification was originally developed by Guy Donald Smith, former director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's soil survey investigations.
Soil classification deals with the systematic categorization of soils based on distinguishing characteristics as well as criteria that dictate choices in use.
Gelisols are an order in USDA soil taxonomy. They are soils of very cold climates which are defined as containing permafrost within two meters of the soil surface. The word "Gelisol" comes from the Latin gelare meaning "to freeze", a reference to the process of cryoturbation that occurs from the alternating thawing and freezing characteristic of Gelisols.
A vertisol is a Soil Order in the USDA soil taxonomy and a Reference Soil Group in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB). It is also defined in many other soil classification systems. In the Australian Soil Classification it is called vertosol. Vertisols have a high content of expansive clay minerals, many of them belonging to the montmorillonites that form deep cracks in drier seasons or years. In a phenomenon known as argillipedoturbation, alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-ploughing, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing some vertisols to have an extremely deep A horizon and no B horizon.. This heaving of the underlying material to the surface often creates a microrelief known as gilgai.
In both the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) and the USDA soil taxonomy, a Histosol is a soil consisting primarily of organic materials. They are defined as having 40 centimetres (16 in) or more of organic soil material starting within 40 cm from the soil surface. In Soil Taxonomy, Gelisols key out before Histosols, and in WRB, Histosols key out before Cryosols. Therefore, organic permafrost soils belong to the Histosols in WRB and to the Gelisols (Histels) in Soil Taxonomy.
The World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is an international soil classification system for naming soils and creating legends for soil maps. The currently valid version is the fourth edition 2022. It is edited by a working group of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS).
The Holland Marsh is a wetland and agricultural area in Ontario, Canada, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Toronto. It lies entirely within the valley of the Holland River, stretching from the northern edge of the Oak Ridges Moraine near Schomberg to the river mouth at Cook's Bay, Lake Simcoe. In its entirety it comprises about 21,000 acres, with two distinct divisions. Historically it has simply been referred to as "the marsh".
In soil classification, an Umbrisol is a soil with a dark topsoil and in which organic matter has accumulated within the mineral surface soil—in most cases with low base saturation—to the extent that it significantly affects the behaviour and utilization of the soil. Umbrisols are the counterpart of comparable soils with a high base saturation.
This is an index of articles relating to soil.
A gleysol is a wetland soil that unless drained is saturated with groundwater for long enough to develop a characteristic gleyic colour pattern. The pattern is essentially made up of reddish, brownish, or yellowish colours at surfaces of soil particles and/or in the upper soil horizons mixed with greyish/blueish colours inside the peds and/or deeper in the soil. Gleysols are also known as Gleyzems, meadow soils, Aqu-suborders of Entisols, Inceptisols and Mollisols, or as groundwater soils and hydro-morphic soils.
Hydric soil is soil which is permanently or seasonally saturated by water, resulting in anaerobic conditions, as found in wetlands.
G. Wade Hurt is a soil scientist in the United States and an authority on hydric soils. As of 2007, he has a position with the University of Florida's Soil and Water Science Department in Gainesville.
The agricultural policy of the United States is composed primarily of the periodically renewed federal U.S. farm bills. The Farm Bills have a rich history which initially sought to provide income and price support to US farmers and prevent them from adverse global as well as local supply and demand shocks. This implied an elaborate subsidy program which supports domestic production by either direct payments or through price support measures. The former incentivizes farmers to grow certain crops which are eligible for such payments through environmentally conscientious practices of farming. The latter protects farmers from vagaries of price fluctuations by ensuring a minimum price and fulfilling their shortfalls in revenue upon a fall in price. Lately, there are other measures through which the government encourages crop insurance and pays part of the premium for such insurance against various unanticipated outcomes in agriculture.
A Stagnosol in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) is soil with strong mottling of the soil profile due to redox processes caused by stagnating surface water.
Torrey Farms is a large family farm located in Elba, New York, with a satellite property located in Potter, New York. It is one of the largest vegetable-crop farm operations in New York. Together its two lots total some 10,000 acres, composed primarily of muckland, in the instance drained swampland.
The Polish Soil Classification is a soil classification system used to describe, classify and organize the knowledge about soils in Poland.
