705 When to Bale Your Straw
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Do you bale your straw or keep it? The basic concept is to ask whether it is helping or hindering you. If baling will remove soil armor and allow rains to erode your land, leave it. If it’s causing issues at seeding time, bale some of it.
Intro
Hello again! I know it’s only been a week since my last edition but as I said last week, I got behind on things, but I wanted to keep up my plan rather than skipping a month.
This month’s theme comes from an article that I wrote for Better Farming Prairies, and it is timely for harvest season. Do you bale your straw or keep it? I’ll get into more in a minute, but the basic concept is to ask whether it is helping or hindering you. If baling will remove soil armour and allow rains to erode your land, leave it. If it’s causing issues at seeding time, bale some of it.
Let me introduce myself. My name is Scott Gillespie and I’m an Alberta-based author, podcaster, and independent agronomy consultant with expertise in Climate-Smart Agriculture. I provide advice-only agronomic services to my farm clients —offering unbiased recommendations free from product sales. I share science-based practices that promote environmental stewardship and farm profitability.
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Too Much of a Good Thing: When to Bale Your Straw
Baling straw might seem like an obvious “don’t” for soil health—after all, it’s another export of carbon and nutrients beyond the grain you harvest. But the decision is more nuanced and often depends on your soil type, climate, and residue load.
In southern Alberta’s dry Brown soils, yields are low, and straw is thin, yet every bit is valuable. It slows raindrop impact, helps water soak into the soil, reduces evaporation, and protects against wind erosion during intense Chinooks. In contrast, higher-yielding irrigated land or the moister Black and Dark Brown soils of the central and eastern Prairies can produce so much residue that it delays spring warming or hinders seeding, making removal a more viable option.
Nutrient loss from a single year’s baling is small because the amount that is lost is spread over 3-5 years—the time it takes for straw to be fully broken down and released back into the soil. One time in five years won’t add up to much, but repeated removals add up over time, particularly in low-organic-matter soils.
Straw’s greatest short-term value is as surface armor. The long-term contribution to soil organic matter is less about residue breakdown and more about root exudates feeding soil microbes.
You still need to replace the nutrients. When nutrient levels are maintained, microbial activity can keep building the mineral-associated organic matter that forms the soil’s structure. Strategic, occasional baling—especially if followed by targeted nutrient replacement—can provide benefits without undermining soil health. Zone-specific residue management may allow farmers to bale only where residue is excessive and leave it where protection is needed most. In the end, straw is a resource: use it first to protect your soil and remove it only when it will help your cropping system.
Please check out the full article at:
https://www.betterfarming.com/flippingbook/better-farming-prairie/2025/july-august/20/index.html
Related Reading
Nutrients strengthen link between precipitation and plant growth, study finds
When I first read this headline I thought, well duh, of course that’s true. More nutrients and more water will make more growth. The core of the study, however, was looking at whether plant diversity could overcome the lack of either. It couldn’t. It comes down the basics of what plants need: moisture, nutrients, and sunlight.
We are not limited by sunlight in dry regions like southern Alberta. Every bit of residue matters for moisture retention, soil protection, and long-term nutrient cycling. The PNAS findings reinforce that precipitation (or in my case, stored soil moisture) is a major driver of biomass production—but also that nutrient availability shapes how responsive plants are to that moisture. Their results show that when nitrogen and phosphorus are not limiting, biomass responds more strongly to rainfall.
This is essentially the same dynamic I describe in reverse: when we remove the nutrients without replacing them, we risk reducing that responsiveness over time, because the soil system becomes nutrient-limited. We can replace the nutrients with synthetic fertilizer or compost or manure, but we can’t capture and hold more water without the straw there.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/04/250417144856.htm
Effects of fertilizer application strategies on soil organic carbon and total nitrogen storage under different agronomic practices: A meta-analysis
A global meta-analysis on soil carbon and nitrogen storage confirms a key point for residue management: nutrients are the engine that keeps soil health building. The study found that mixed fertilizer strategies—combining manure and mineral fertilizers—had the strongest effect on storing both soil organic carbon and total nitrogen, particularly under continuous cropping in subhumid and semi-arid climates.
For straw management, it means that when residue is removed, simply replacing NPK with synthetic fertilizer may not fully maintain the soil’s carbon and nitrogen balance. That’s a little different that I argued but a way to look at is that adding manure covers many of the micro nutrients as well. If you were only replacing with NPK synthetic fertilizers, then in time these could be limiters. Our soils are geologically young, so these micro nutrients may not limit us for a while, but they are still something to watch.
Closing remarks
Thanks for your attention! If something resonated let me know. I love to hear from you. Also, sharing this episode in your social networks, whether a post or to small group of your friends, colleagues, or clients, is very much appreciated. You can also support me by picking up a copy of my book, Practical Regeneration, or reaching out for agronomy support.
All the information can be found on my website:
www.plantsdigsoil.com
Here’s to growing more, believing less, and always digging a little deeper.
