Reclaiming Salt Contaminated Land

World Feeder Bermuda Grass is a functional "halophyte," or a plant with extreme tolerance of salt in the soil and/or in the irrigation water. As such, it is the only cash crop in the world that is also the solution for reclaiming salt contaminated land.

According to our research, there is no crop in the world that will grow in soil with more that 17,000 ppm (parts per million) salt. Soil with salt at this level is considered toxic for any agricultural application and often looks like a white salt flat. Yet we have seen World Feeder Bermuda Grass grow in soil measuring over 35,000 ppm salinity. This is basically the equivalent salinity of sea water!

We have had actual instances of farmers on the Texas coast pumping brine water directly from the gulf and watering their pasture and the grass thrived just as well as the neighboring pasture being irrigated with fresh water.

REF: http://www.fao.org/ag/tsunami/home/saltcontamination.html

Salt Land Remediation

Salt contaminated land, toxic to all crops, has three primary sources: natural salt formations, petroleum industry waste storage practices (spills, etc.), and improper irrigation practices. Saline soil is a growing global agricultural problem. What is needed is a cash crop that is also a true halophyte. We believe that World Feeder Bermuda Grass is the answer for remediating salt contaminated land. If you are in the business of reclaiming salt contaminated land, please contact us immediately. We can provide a FREE assessment of your situation. We look forward to working with you.

Salt Land Remediation Testimonials

Jerry Hons of Mabelle, Texas, bought some World Feeder Bermuda Grass in 1991. Mabelle is southwest of Wichita Falls in Baylor County, just south of Lake Kemp. He was converting some wheat pasture to Bermuda grass as in improved crop. He planned to graze cattle. Across the road from the wheat land, he had some natural salt land that the USDA Soil Conservation agents had tested and told him nothing would ever grow there. He had heard about the extreme vitality of World Feeder, so he took a few sprigs and planted them on the salt land at the same time that he planted the wheat land. Imagine his surprise a few weeks later when the "circles" of grass (sprigged grass spreads in circular shape until complete coverage is attained) were four times larger than the circles on the wheat land!

Here is a close-up of Mr. Hons’ soil, which tested 37,000 to 43,000 ppm salinity in the Spring of 1991:

Here is the same location, in July, 1991 after planting four sprigs about 6-feet apart:

This amazing growth was obtained with no supplemental fertilizer and only average rainfall for irrigation. So we can see that this soil, where nothing else would grow due to the salt contamination was chock full of other nutrients that were just waiting to be mined by a salt-tolerant crop.

Here is a picture of the same plot of grass one year later:

Here is a plot of World Feeder Bermuda Grass growing on a salt spot at the Dimmer’s farm in Union City, Oklahoma:

In the center of a tight clay winter wheat field existed a "hot spot" of salty land approximately one acre in size, which would not grow anything (weeds, grass or wheat). In March, 1992, two furrows were plowed about two feet apart and planted with World Feeder. During the second summer – without any fertil-izer or irrigation – World Feeder spread and covered the entire hot spot.

Larry Miller of Seymour, Texas had a salt "wash" on his land, which drains into the Salt Fork of the Bravos River. Here is a view of it:

Here is some World Feeder Bermuda Grass growing in the salt wash:

This is one sprig after only about 45 days, with no fertilization and only natural rainfall. You can see the others in the back-ground starting to spread out.

U. S. Dept. of Agriculture

Based on the above results, we began to seek out opportunities with various government agencies and oil companies, who are constantly fighting the battle to reclaim salt land, either natural or manmade. Here are two examples:

TEXON, TEXAS - USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

• A letter from Stan Reinke is attached from the Range Management Specialist who managed this experiment. He is now retired.
• June, 1993 - plugged some very poor, salt polluted land in Texon, Texas, west of San Angelo
• Conducted a two year study under very hard conditions
• Salt content: 25,000 to 30,000 ppm
• Very dry climate: rainfall during the growing season was 8.85 inches in 1993 and 7.53 inches in 1994
• Most of the rainfall was in amounts less than 0.5 inches and thus ineffective
• Temperatures rose to above 100° F on many days during the growing season
• Water table was 5 to 6 feet below the surface
• No irrigation or fertilization whatsoever

Results

• World Feeder survived these extreme conditions and continued to grow and expand
• It was the only survivor of 14 salt tolerant varieties tested

WOODWARD, OKLAHOMA - USDA Southern Plains Range Research Station

• World Feeder& was planted in extremely salt polluted land adjacent to the Salt River in northwestern Oklahoma where no other grass would grow
• They wanted to know if World Feeder would:
  • Survive the harsh winters
  • Withstand the dry hot summers
  • Grow on high salt-content soil
  • Cover the ground economically
• They did not fertilize or irrigate the test plot

Results

• World Feeder passed all of the criteria in the first year and continued to prosper afterward
• Video footage of the results is available upon request