Soil, weeds, and compaction aren’t the problem — our management is. Real solutions come from understanding causes, not applying band-aids.

Many of the challenges producers face tend to repeat themselves. Herbicide-tolerant weeds, erosion, soil compaction, and high input costs are common frustrations. Sometimes these issues resolve on their own; other times, marketing offers a quick fix. The answer often seems simple: spend money and make the problem go away — at least temporarily.

But when we take a systems approach, the path to real, lasting solutions becomes clearer. In most cases, the problems we face originate from our own management, often compounded by environmental conditions. If management created the problem, continuing with the same practices certainly won’t fix it. As the old saying goes: if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

The first question should always be: are we treating a symptom, or the actual cause?

A symptom is merely a sign of an undesirable situation. A cause is what creates it. When we only treat symptoms, they may fade for a short time, but the underlying problem remains. Meaningful change requires identifying the cause and adjusting management so the issue doesn’t return.

Compaction: A Classic Case of Mistaking Symptom for Cause

Zero-till was once seen as the cure for soil compaction. While it helps slow further compaction, it doesn’t eliminate the underlying issue. Common symptoms include hard soil, poor infiltration, shallow rooting, reduced nutrient efficiency, low beneficial organism populations, erosion, and declining yields.

Producers often respond with deep ripping or other one-step “solutions” that may provide temporary relief. But compaction usually stems from deeper causes: excessive nitrogen use, over-tillage, limited functional plant diversity, removing residue, and leaving soil bare for long periods. Solving compaction means working with natural processes — not fighting them.

A more complete solution might include a strategic rip combined with biological amendments like hydrolyzed fish and humic acid, followed by deep-rooted cover crops. It could also involve reevaluating fertilizer strategies, adding relay or perennial crops, increasing plant diversity, adjusting tire pressures, and managing axle loads. The more causes you address, the better the results.

Weeds: Indicators, Not Enemies

Weeds are often treated like a problem to be eradicated, but they’re really indicators of soil conditions. They reflect our management choices. Jay McCaman’s When Weeds Talk offers valuable insight into why certain weeds appear — and what they’re telling us.

Many weeds are early-successional plants. Trees sit at the top of the succession ladder, while our crops fall somewhere in between. Dr. Elaine Ingham demonstrates this with the fungal-to-bacterial ratio, which shows where a plant community lies on the succession scale. Importantly, this ratio fluctuates quickly, so it must be viewed as an average over the growing season.

Wild Oats: A Biological Issue, Not a Chemical One

Wild oats fade when the fungal-to-bacterial ratio remains above 0.3. Achieving this means encouraging fungal growth by reducing tillage, lowering fertilizer rates, eliminating fungicides, maintaining living roots throughout the season, widening plant diversity, and ideally incorporating livestock.

High nitrogen fertilizer increases soil nitrates, which in turn stimulate weed growth. Fungicides kill beneficial fungi, tillage tears apart fungal hyphae, and fallow periods deprive mycorrhizae of hosts. If we want fewer weeds, our soils must favour crops more than early-successional species.

Kochia: A Symptom of Salinity

Kochia, however, points to a deeper issue: salinity. Addressing salinity takes more than one pass with a tool. It begins with reducing evaporation and restoring drainage. Adding shredded straw provides immediate cover, and planting saline-tolerant, deep-rooted species creates pore space and uses moisture deeper in the soil profile. As water moves, salts are pushed downward, allowing seedlings to germinate.

Deep roots also draw calcium upward, and mycorrhizal fungi help release more calcium from the soil. As calcium increases, soil structure loosens, enabling greater root development. With improved structure, salts leach downward, deeper moisture is used, excess nitrates convert to other nitrogen forms, and cover crops take hold. Only then does kochia decline. And once soil becomes saline, it always holds the potential to return — another reminder that symptoms aren’t the problem.

Agriculture is an ecosystem, and most issues are connected. When something isn’t working, we need to assess the whole system. Are we treating symptoms, or are we uncovering the root causes? When we fix the cause — or causes — the symptoms naturally fade. That’s how we know we’ve truly improved the system.