As part of my Plant Science education, I had the opportunity to take two Soils courses. The first was an introductory course that focused on how soils are formed, the classification of horizons and orders, and a hands-on lab section. In the image below I am bailing out water from a soil pit so that we can get an accurate look at the face of the soil to determine the types of horizons present.
The second was focused on nutrient management. As part of my second course, I was able to create a conservation plan including cultural and traditional management techniques. I chose to focus on Rollins Farm in Columbia, Missouri since it is the location where the data was collected for my capstone project. The lower portion of the farm has a long history of flooding. Therefore, I chose to focus on decreasing the amount of nitrogen runoff and erosion. A full proposal of the plan and calculations can be seen below.