{"id":1474,"date":"2018-10-05T20:53:55","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T20:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/?p=1474"},"modified":"2018-10-05T20:53:55","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T20:53:55","slug":"do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/","title":{"rendered":"Do We Treat Our Soils Like Dirt?\u2014Perspective on Five Common Statements"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

This week I was in Mitchell County, Texas to talk about cover cropping (see companion article in this month\u2019s RCNL).\u00a0 As cover cropping has become a national topic of interest in agriculture, sometimes I think the interest and enthusiasm gets carried away with some statements about soil and our farming practices that need some perspective.<\/p>\n

This could very well be purely unintentional.\u00a0 But if a Texas farmer is lectured about any of the comments below, especially in drier regions of the state, he or she may not know what to believe.\u00a0 An Olton, TX farmer approached me earlier this year about some of the comments below, and wondered if they \u201cwere doing it all wrong\u2019 in their farming operations.\u00a0 I assured them they were probably doing just fine, but let\u2019s review and see what we can learn.<\/p>\n

So here are five statements I hear about agricultural practices\u2014including (my opinion) attempts by those from regions with more rainfall that try to impose suggested practices on producers in drier regions.\u00a0 I believe these statements can be confusing, even misleading.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cFallow periods kill the soil\u2026\u201d<\/strong> No, they don\u2019t.\u00a0 Soil is a fantastic medium with all kinds of different microorganisms as well as worms, nematodes, and other biota.\u00a0 This statement probably implies bare soil or some residues, but soil biological activity continues\u2014albeit at a lower level.\u00a0 Increased soil biological activity can lead to better nutrient cycling and possibly increases in stable long-term organic matter.\u00a0 Why is fallow a common farming practice in many regions of the western Great Plains and other regions?\u00a0 Because is saves and stores soil moisture for the next crop!\u00a0 Elevated soil biological activity will resume once cropping occurs.<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cFarmers have destroyed their soils<\/strong>\u2026\u201d\u00a0 This statement is most likely targeted at western dryland regions of Texas.\u00a0 Some believe that tillage is the only way to manage wind erosion (listing soils, pulling up cloddy material, etc.).\u00a0 Farmers doing conventional tillage for 50 years have not destroyed their soils (if they did, it most likely comes from excessive rain run-off and subsequent loss of surface soil).\u00a0 Farmers may farm a degraded soil resource, but like #1 above, let\u2019s give soil some credit!\u00a0 This unique medium can resume an elevated level of biological activity quickly.\u00a0 When you produce 3 bales of cotton with moderate irrigation, or 4,000 lbs. of grain sorghum on dryland in a dry region, or 45 bu\/A dryland wheat in the High Plains (and many have), you do not farm destroyed soil.\u00a0 Perhaps degraded, but not destroyed.<\/li>\n
  3. \u201cWe need fungal dominant soils\u2026\u201d<\/strong> The bulk of soil biological activity from microorganisms is bacterial and fungal.\u00a0 Numerically, bacteria far out-number fungi.\u00a0 But both have significant roles in biological and chemical processes in soils, and they are complementary to each other.\u00a0 Each type of organism (bacteria, fungus) has different contributions to nutrient cycling, conversion of organic matter to humus, etc.\u00a0 But university soil microbiologists I know do not support this statement.\u00a0 If you have different types of decaying residues in soils then soil fungi may increase relative to bacteria.\u00a0 But regardless of what level each is, they work together to make soil a dynamic system.<\/li>\n
  4. \u201cCover crops don\u2019t use water\u2026\u201d<\/strong> I don\u2019t think technically this is what is meant, rather the net effect of cover cropping is a neutral water balance or even positive if cover crops are used.\u00a0 But what is meant is not what is said:\u00a0 cover crops use water.\u00a0 You know you cannot get something from nothing.\u00a0 You have known that a long time.\u00a0 You can\u2019t get a nice blanket of biomass and subsequent residues without using water.\u00a0 Cover residues might conserve soil moisture by reducing evaporation from the soil surface.\u00a0 But growth uses water.\u00a0 Water use is measurable.\u00a0 The question is, can over crops effect enough of a change so that rain fall infiltration, reduced evaporation, etc. lead to a favorable net balance (increase) in soil moisture for your agronomic crop?\u00a0 Much more data is needed in this area.<\/li>\n
  5. \u201cTillage kills VAM\u2026\u201d<\/strong> Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae.\u00a0 These organisms are like a network of fungi that have a specific structure\u2014hyphae\u2014that can penetrate plant cells in one direction and extend through soil in the other direction.\u00a0 These often facilitate nutrient acquisition and exchange with the roots.\u00a0 Tillage will disrupt this association to some extent, but not to the point of killing all these microorganisms.\u00a0 Which can quickly grow back.\u00a0 The VAM in the words of one colleague are somewhat like starfish\u2014one can become several if injured, torn up, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    You may have heard some of your own sharp statements about our soils and farming practices.\u00a0 These are a few; if you have experienced others, I would like to hear about them.<\/p>\n

    Be sensible in your thinking about what you hear.\u00a0 Texas A&M AgriLife staff are here to help you think through your farming operation and some of the things you can do to improve.\u00a0 We are all seeking to optimize ways to farm better and take care of our soils.\u00a0 But these statements above seem as if they might be intended to beat us down.\u00a0 I am not buying it.\u00a0 We are all conservation stewards to some degree.\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at the positives of what we can do to farm better, farm longer, and farm profitably.\u00a0 Texas A&M AgriLife welcomes your thoughts and we are eager to partner with those exploring means to improve agriculture on your farm and for Texas.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>

    Calvin Trostle
    Professor and Extension Specialist
    Lubbock, TX
    803.746.6101
    ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu This week I was in Mitchell County, Texas to talk about cover cropping (see companion article in this month\u2019s RCNL).\u00a0 As cover cropping has become a national topic of interest in agriculture, sometimes I think the interest and enthusiasm gets carried away with some statements about soil and our farming practices that need some perspective. This could very well be purely unintentional.\u00a0 But if a Texas farmer is lectured about any of the… Read More →<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1371,"featured_media":1475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-46","category-october-2018"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDo We Treat Our Soils Like Dirt?\u2014Perspective on Five Common Statements - Texas Row Crops Newsletter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do We Treat Our Soils Like Dirt?\u2014Perspective on Five Common Statements - Texas Row Crops Newsletter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu This week I was in Mitchell County, Texas to talk about cover cropping (see companion article in this month\u2019s RCNL).\u00a0 As cover cropping has become a national topic of interest in agriculture, sometimes I think the interest and enthusiasm gets carried away with some statements about soil and our farming practices that need some perspective. This could very well be purely unintentional.\u00a0 But if a Texas farmer is lectured about any of the... Read More →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Texas Row Crops Newsletter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-05T20:53:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/files\/2018\/10\/Trostle-Oct.-2018.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1529\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1146\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"l-francis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"l-francis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/05\\\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/05\\\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"l-francis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/75521ee3b2ee8ccc41538b7b022dc8dc\"},\"headline\":\"Do We Treat Our Soils Like Dirt?\u2014Perspective on Five Common Statements\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-05T20:53:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/05\\\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":957,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/05\\\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/Trostle-Oct.-2018.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"2018\",\"October 2018\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/05\\\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/05\\\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\\\/\",\"name\":\"Do We Treat Our Soils Like Dirt?\u2014Perspective on Five Common Statements - Texas Row Crops Newsletter\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/05\\\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/05\\\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/Trostle-Oct.-2018.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-05T20:53:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/75521ee3b2ee8ccc41538b7b022dc8dc\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/05\\\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/05\\\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/05\\\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/Trostle-Oct.-2018.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/Trostle-Oct.-2018.jpg\",\"width\":1529,\"height\":1146},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/2018\\\/10\\\/05\\\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Do We Treat Our Soils Like Dirt?\u2014Perspective on Five Common Statements\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/\",\"name\":\"Texas Row Crops Newsletter\",\"description\":\"Meeting AgriLife\u2019s Outreach Mission\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/75521ee3b2ee8ccc41538b7b022dc8dc\",\"name\":\"l-francis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d244a9e9ac7f103f782c39b24f80fe253aa1f98b7e001e1aa93a8c2be21df87f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d244a9e9ac7f103f782c39b24f80fe253aa1f98b7e001e1aa93a8c2be21df87f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d244a9e9ac7f103f782c39b24f80fe253aa1f98b7e001e1aa93a8c2be21df87f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"l-francis\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agrilife.org\\\/texasrowcrops\\\/author\\\/l-francis\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Do We Treat Our Soils Like Dirt?\u2014Perspective on Five Common Statements - Texas Row Crops Newsletter","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Do We Treat Our Soils Like Dirt?\u2014Perspective on Five Common Statements - Texas Row Crops Newsletter","og_description":"by Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock, (806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu This week I was in Mitchell County, Texas to talk about cover cropping (see companion article in this month\u2019s RCNL).\u00a0 As cover cropping has become a national topic of interest in agriculture, sometimes I think the interest and enthusiasm gets carried away with some statements about soil and our farming practices that need some perspective. This could very well be purely unintentional.\u00a0 But if a Texas farmer is lectured about any of the... Read More →","og_url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/","og_site_name":"Texas Row Crops Newsletter","article_published_time":"2018-10-05T20:53:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1529,"height":1146,"url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/files\/2018\/10\/Trostle-Oct.-2018.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"l-francis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"l-francis","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/"},"author":{"name":"l-francis","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/#\/schema\/person\/75521ee3b2ee8ccc41538b7b022dc8dc"},"headline":"Do We Treat Our Soils Like Dirt?\u2014Perspective on Five Common Statements","datePublished":"2018-10-05T20:53:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/"},"wordCount":957,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/files\/2018\/10\/Trostle-Oct.-2018.jpg","articleSection":["2018","October 2018"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/","url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/","name":"Do We Treat Our Soils Like Dirt?\u2014Perspective on Five Common Statements - Texas Row Crops Newsletter","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/files\/2018\/10\/Trostle-Oct.-2018.jpg","datePublished":"2018-10-05T20:53:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/#\/schema\/person\/75521ee3b2ee8ccc41538b7b022dc8dc"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/files\/2018\/10\/Trostle-Oct.-2018.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/files\/2018\/10\/Trostle-Oct.-2018.jpg","width":1529,"height":1146},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/2018\/10\/05\/do-we-treat-our-soils-like-dirt-perspective-on-five-common-statements\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Do We Treat Our Soils Like Dirt?\u2014Perspective on Five Common Statements"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/#website","url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/","name":"Texas Row Crops Newsletter","description":"Meeting AgriLife\u2019s Outreach Mission","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/#\/schema\/person\/75521ee3b2ee8ccc41538b7b022dc8dc","name":"l-francis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d244a9e9ac7f103f782c39b24f80fe253aa1f98b7e001e1aa93a8c2be21df87f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d244a9e9ac7f103f782c39b24f80fe253aa1f98b7e001e1aa93a8c2be21df87f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d244a9e9ac7f103f782c39b24f80fe253aa1f98b7e001e1aa93a8c2be21df87f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"l-francis"},"url":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/author\/l-francis\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1371"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrilife.org\/texasrowcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}