In southwestern Colorado, Greg Vlaming crouched down to look at dying remains of an oat crop baking under the July sun. It wasn’t just a dead plant — it was armor, he said.  “This minimizes wind erosion and surface runoff,” said Vlaming, a soil scientist, consultant and farmer. “Water can’t run off on something that’s like this.” Vlaming is working alongside the state, researchers, farmers and ranchers on a newly expanded soil health program established by the Colorado legislature in 2021. The goal of the program is to nurture soils in order to reap rewards — like more efficient irrigation, more carbon storage and healthier crops.  But changing long-standing growing practices can be a risky, expensive challenge for farmers already dealing with drought and thin margins.