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Where soil is exposed, nature responds The Storm Was Coming The Atlas storm was rolling into South Dakota on October 5, 2013, the kind of storm that makes you aware of how small you are. Low clouds, raw wind, rain coming in sideways. It felt like the right weather to talk about weeds. Dwayne Beck had a way of choosing moments like that without ever saying he had. Sitting at Dakota Lakes Research Farm, he talked about weeds not as enemies, but as messengers. Indicators. Symptoms of something deeper going on in the system. Weeds Are Not a Chemistry Problem What struck me then—and has taken years to fully sink in—was how little patience Dwayne had for the idea that weeds are primarily a chemistry problem. “Herbicides don’t control weeds,” he said flatly. “They’re part of weed control.” The real work, he explained, happens long before a sprayer ever leaves the shed. Competition. Sanitation. Rotation. Those were the levers that mattered. Get a crop up fast. Keep the ground covered. Don’t let weeds go to seed. And for heaven’s sake, stop being predictable. Predictability, Dwayne insisted, is the one thing weeds—and insects—exploit better than we do. Competition Comes First If you do the same thing, at the same time, in the same sequence, year after year, nature doesn’t panic. She adapts. She waits. She selects. And then she wins. That’s where Palmer amaranth comes in. Or water hemp. Or ryegrass. Or whatever the weed of the decade happens to be. They aren’t invaders so much as opportunists, filling niches we’ve left wide open—bare soil, gaps in timing, systems simplified to the point where the outcome is all but guaranteed. Sanitation Is About Timing, Not Clean Fields Dwayne liked to say that Mother Nature isn’t malicious—but she’s relentless. She has, after all, been running research and development for a few billion years. Sanitation, as he used the word, didn’t mean sterile fields or perfection. It meant not letting weeds set seed. It meant early action, not heroic rescue. Most resistance problems, he argued, begin when we let weeds get established and then try to save the day with chemistry. Rotation Breaks Predictability This is where his thinking on technology often got misunderstood. At the time, I assumed he meant sprayers, monitors, precision ag—the visible tools. But what he was really cautioning against was our faith in stacked traits and genetic engineering as silver bullets. Crops engineered to resist weeds, insects, and disease all at once, as if complexity could be outsmarted by cleverness. Dwayne isn’t anti-technology. He just didn’t confuse technology with wisdom. He told a story—half joking, half deadly serious—about an old cowboy movie. One guy hauls off and punches another guy square in the gut. The second guy doesn’t even flinch. Just looks at him and says, “Oh…OK…, yeah, whatever!” That, Dwayne suggested, is how Mother Nature responds when we throw our latest innovation at her and expect applause. What the Research Eventually Confirmed Roundup resistance. Bt resistance. Trait workarounds. None of it surprises ecology. If anything, it confirms it. What Dwayne was saying in 2013 has since been borne out by the work at Dakota Lakes. Research led by Natalie Sturm has shown that diverse rotations—especially those that include small grains—do more for weed suppression and system resilience than no-till alone . Early-season crops disrupt weed life cycles and close niches that opportunists depend on, while longer, more intentional rotations reduce ecological predictability altogether. You can see this clearly in Beyond No-Till: Why Crop Rotations Matter More Than You Think and Long Rotations Leave Too Much on the Table—Really? Be Smarter Than a Weed The lesson Dwayne kept circling back to was simple, almost uncomfortable in its simplicity be smarter than a weed. Not stronger. Not louder. Smarter. That means diversity instead of monoculture. Rotation that breaks both sequence and timing. Crops that compete. Cover crops that fill niches. Systems that wobble less because they are built on relationships rather than recipes. Standing there as the storm settled in, it was clear Dwayne wasn’t offering a fix. He was offering a way of seeing. Weeds weren’t the problem . They were the feedback . And if we slow down long enough to listen, they tell us exactly what needs to change. Insights informed by 2013 conversations and 2025 Dakota Lakes rotation research. __________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

Alejandro Carillo of Las Damas Ranch Mexico Photo Credit: Joe Dickie When Ray Archuleta talks about Alejandro Carrillo, his tone carries equal parts awe and conviction. He recalls standing in the heat of Mexico’s Chihuahuan Desert — a place that gets ten inches of rain a year, on a good year  — and watching grassland reappear where bare soil and thorn scrub once dominated. “I saw cattle bring the desert back,” Ray says, “and transform it back into native rangeland. It changed the local climate. He’s getting more rain now.” The transformation Ray describes wasn’t magic — it was management. Alejandro Carrillo’s Las Damas Ranch  began its shift decades ago, rooted in a simple but radical belief: the land doesn’t need more inputs, it needs more life. Through adaptive, holistic grazing, he used his cattle to mimic the natural movement of wild herds — short, intense grazing followed by long rest periods. Over time, living roots stayed in the soil longer, organic matter increased, and water began to infiltrate rather than run off. If it works in the desert… Ray often tells this story because of what it means for the rest of us. “If it can be done there,” he says, “it can be done anywhere.” That’s not wishful thinking — it’s a challenge to rethink what’s possible. In much wetter parts of the Great Plains, ranchers already see the same principles at work. Take Bart Carmichael in northwestern South Dakota. Years ago, he grazed on land that couldn’t produce 800 pounds of forage per acre. Today, he leaves 1,000 pounds of residue  on that same ground after grazing — proof that life and management, not rainfall alone, determine productivity. The philosophy behind it Both Carrillo and Carmichael embody what Ray calls the regenerative mindset  — learning to “interpret the world through nature’s eyes”. Instead of forcing the land to meet our expectations, we learn from its feedback. Adaptive grazing, Ray reminds us, means watching the plants, the animals, and the climate—and adjusting constantly. That mindset turns “problems” into patterns: brittle environments become places where livestock can be tools of restoration rather than sources of degradation. Why these matters Carrillo’s desert ranch and Carmichael’s Dakota pastures tell the same story in two different climates: life begets life. When managed properly, cattle are not the enemy of grasslands — they’re the key to their renewal. If a man can grow grass where rain barely falls, what’s possible for those of us with twice or three times that rainfall? 👉  Watch the short film with Ray Archuleta  — filmed by Joe Dickie and inspired by Alejandro Carrillo’s desert transformation — to see this story come alive. Learn more about Alejandro Carrillo’s work: Las Damas Ranch – Holistic Management International Las Damas Ranch – Understanding Ag Case Study The Ranchlands Podcast #14: Alejandro Carillo __________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

Root exudates from maize feed beneficial soil microbes, forming a protective rhizosphere that improves water retention and supports drought tolerance under diversified crop rotations. By Buz Kloot I’ve had the good fortune to spend time with Natalie Sturm and, before that, to follow the work at the Dakota Lakes Research Farm (DLRF) for more than a decade. Long before her thesis made the rounds online, what struck me was not just the data, but the patience of the body of work at DLRF itself — decades of asking the same simple question in slightly different ways: What happens when we let diversity do its work? That question resurfaced again recently in a lively discussion following a post about Natalie’s work and the podcast we recorded with her. The comments will sound familiar to anyone who spends time in soil health circles: debates about no-till versus tillage, roots versus trees, microbes versus mechanics, plants versus animals. Lots of passion. Lots of partial truths. What’s helpful is when we can step back and ask: Are others, in other places, seeing the same thing? Two recent peer-reviewed studies suggest the answer is yes. A long-term experiment in Canada 1  found that diversifying maize rotations reduced yield losses under drought by roughly 17% , even when no-till alone did not make the difference. The key wasn’t a single “silver bullet” practice, but the cumulative effect of diverse rotations that build soil organic matter and improve how plants experience water stress under dry conditions. More recently, a 20-year rotation experiment in China 2 showed that higher crop diversity dramatically increased maize drought tolerance at the seedling stage . What stood out was how  this happened: thicker roots, more stable rhizosphere microbial communities, and enzyme systems that didn’t collapse under drought. In other words, diversity didn’t just help plants survive drought — it helped the soil system stay functional while stressed.   That should sound familiar to anyone paying attention at Dakota Lakes. What Natalie’s work keeps reminding us — and what these studies quietly confirm — is that drought resilience is not something we bolt on in a crisis year. It’s something we grow, slowly, through intentional crop rotation diversity that feeds roots, microbes, and soil structure over time . Different continents. Different soils. Same direction of travel. And that, to me, is where the real confidence comes from. 1. Long-term rotation & drought resistance (Canada) Renwick LLR, Deen W, Silva L, et al. Long-term crop rotation diversification enhances maize drought resistance through soil organic matter. Environmental Research Letters.  2021;16(8):084067.doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac1468 2. Crop diversity, roots, microbes & drought tolerance (China) Jia R, Chen M, Zhou J, et al. Diversified crop rotations strengthen maize seedling drought tolerance by modulating rhizosphere microbiota and enzyme activities. Plant, Cell & Environment.  2025;48:8604–8615.doi:10.1111/pce.70150 __________ Visit these “Growing Resilience Through Our Soils” information pages: 1. Podcast page for drought planning fact sheets, Q&As, news, podcasts, and more. 2. Video page to watch videos of other ranchers’ journeys toward improved rangeland/pasture. 3. Follow Growing Resilience on social media: Facebook - Growing Resilience Twitter - @GrowResilience_ Instagram - growingresilience.sd 4. Our homepage: www.growingresiliencesd.com

The mission of Growing Resilience Through Our Soils is to help ranchers and cropland managers maximize soil health to deliver profitable farming and ranching and well as soil resilience. This educational platform–led by passionate researchers and storytellers—uses videos, photos, and words to showcase the trials and successes of ranchers and farmers as they continue along their soil health journeys. Recipes Filter by Level Number of recipes found: 0

Through Growing Resilience, healthy crops and soils mean healthy farmers and consumers. Regenerative Farming is the idea that if farmers change the way they manage the soils, you can improve environmental conditions through less disturbance, have more profitable faming, and more time with family. GROWING RESILIENT SOIL Learn soil health practices from ranchers and farmers to make your operation resilient and profitable. We’re Changing the Way Ranchers and Farmers Think About Soil Ranchers and farmers are often told that better production means higher inputs—but at what cost? In the face of skyrocketing input costs, many producers across the nation are being forced to ask this question. Does a better and more cost-effective way to regenerate exist? Ranchers and cropland managers are telling us yes, it does even as they reduce operating costs and increase their bottom line. Read More Read More Featured Content Farmers Journey to Find the New Cropland Grazing Model See how South Dakota farmer/rancher Brian Johnson and his family are discovering increased profits, decreased workload, and enhanced land and operation resilience through an innovative approach to grazing. Here's How Ranchers Are M aking Their Ranches Drought Proof. Prescribed Grazing —Our ranchers are rotating livestock, resting grazed land, and thereby allowing their land to recover. Increasing Diversity —A great indicator of healthy soils is diversity. Our ranchers are managing their land for diversity so that their forage base includes a wonderful mix of native warm and cool season grasses and forbs. Grazing More, Feeding Less —As their forage base increases, our ranchers are making more money per acre by grazing more and feeding less. Being Adaptive — Our ranchers embrace the fact that nothing in life is set in stone and that flexibility is an asset. As SD rancher Bart Carmichael says, “We make plans, assume we’re wrong, then adapt as the weather or livestock dictate”. Plan, observe, adapt, repeat. Changing their Mindsets —Through embracing free resources, such as those provided by the SD NRCS, the SD Grassland Coalition, the SD Soil Health Coalition and this platform, our ranchers are changing their thoughts about what successful, profitable ranching can be. The range management techniques we highlight are tools that any rancher can use to change and improve their land. Drought Resources Our partners at the South Dakota Grassland Coalition just launched their "Pray for Rain. Plan for Drought." project. Click below to find out more; Struggling With Drought? Click Here The ranchers and technical advisors listed in the downloadable document below are ready talk with anyone interested in weathering the worst impacts of drought. Give one of them a call. Talk To A Drought Expert Download Now What Ranchers Are Saying The time savings doing something like this has for me. I was going to have my wife come out and talk to you. She’s complaining I’m around too much now. Reid Suelflow, Rancher Drought Tolerance, Diversity, and Déjà Vu: What Dakota Lakes Is Teaching the World 5 days ago 2 min read “It Won’t Work Here”—Until It Does: Twelve Years of Lessons from a Southeastern Farmer 6 days ago 3 min read Can We Really Fix Wet Spots With Tillage? If So, Why Are They Still There? 7 days ago 3 min read Behind the Lens: Stories From South Dakota’s Grasslands and the People Who Care for Them Dec 11 3 min read Corn–Soybean Rotation Economics: The Data Behind “No-Till, No Yield” Nov 25 3 min read Year-Round Grazing in South Dakota: Lessons from Pat Guptill & Bart Carmichael Nov 24 5 min read Be first to know about new blog posts! First Name Last Name Email Subscribe Thanks for subscribing! Watch Don't Know Where to Start? Ask A Mentor! If you're looking for an agricultural expert to help you improve or expand a certain area of your operation, consider joining our Mentor Network where you can reach out the experienced producers in various agricultural fields who provide technical and planning assistance to South Dakota farmers and ranchers. I'd like a mentor! Less Time in the Field = Less Stress (and More Time With Family) Two things are always out of a rancher’s control: the weather and the cost of doing business. But ranchers who have changed the way they think of the land are finding themselves more in the driver’s seat of their operations and their wallets. Through understanding the soil health principles and implementing these to suit their operations, our ranchers are waking up to fewer operating costs, less time needed ‘working the land’ and more down-time enjoyed with their families. That’s less worrying about money and less time working—all by simply allowing the land (and livestock) to work for them. Read More MORE CONTENT PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES OUR PARTNERS

Healthy soils and healthy crops, mean healthy farmers and consumers, never mind an ever-improving environment. One idea we are embracing is that of Regenerative Farming where we embrace the idea that if farmers change the way they manage the soils, they can actually improve, or regenerate environmental conditions through less disturbance, keeping soils covered with residue or canopies, keeping live roots I the soil year round and be reintroducing animals into the whole system. Free Resources Adaptive Grazing All Bale Grazing Calving On Grass Climate Smart Drought Management No-Till Prescribed Burn Soil Salinity No-Till: Common Questions & Straight Answers VIEW OR DOWNLOAD When No-Till Yields More: Global Analysis VIEW OR DOWNLOAD How To More Profitably Manage Saline Soil Spots VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Climate Smart Ranching & Farming Facts VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Adaptive Grazing Q&A VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Grazing Lease Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Drought Planning Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Drought Monitoring Map VIEW LIVE MAP Calving On Grass Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Dakota Lakes Interview VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Soil Salinity Management VIEW OR DOWNLOAD A Better Way To Manage Saline Soils Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Climate Smart Ranching & Farming Q&A VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Soil Food Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Grazing Lease Q&A VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Drought Contingency Plan Q&A VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Bale Grazing Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Conservation Agriculture: Yield Limits & Potential VIEW OR DOWNLOAD NRSC Salinity And Sodic Soil Management VIEW OR DOWNLOAD 2023 NRCS Grasslands Planner VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Adaptive Grazing Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Soil Food Q&A VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Year Round Grazing Fact Sheet VIEW OR DOWNLOAD South Dakota Drought Tool VIEW OR DOWNLOAD Bale Grazing Q&A VIEW OR DOWNLOAD CONTACT US Profitable Farming - Profitable Ranching - Farming Community - Soil Heath - Bale Grazing