By James Hoorman, Hoorman Soil Health Services

Fall and spring are usually the times when farmers or fertilizer dealers conduct most soil tests to make fertilizer application recommendations. In recent years, most dealers have provided that service for their farmer clients.

A few years ago, after looking at soil tests collected over several years, I noticed a big jump of 0.5% to 1% in soil organic matter (SOM) on all the fields of a particular no-till farmer. I started asking questions.

He was already a no-tiller and using cover crops. Had he done anything different? Not really. Then I asked, “Who took the sample?” He said the dealer. “Who took them before?” He said he had. Is there that much sampling difference between dealers and farmers? The biggest difference is that dealers use a m

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