ENRICHING SOIL, ENHANCING LIFE An Action Plan for Soil Health. Steven R. Shafer, Ph.D. Chief Scientific Officer

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1 ENRICHING SOIL, ENHANCING LIFE An Action Plan for Soil Health Steven R. Shafer, Ph.D. Chief Scientific Officer

2 Mission Safeguard and enhance the vitality and productivity of soil through scientific research and advancement

3 Roles of the Institute Identify research & adoption gaps Build research/implementation strategies and corresponding networks/synergies Obtain funding to strategically address gaps Administer accountable, transparent, and technically proficient grants program Ensure impact of investments Incorporate research results into educational materials Enhance partnerships to increase tech transfer and adoption

4 It s Alive! SOIL HEALTH: The capacity of a soil to function as a vital, living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans.

5 5 p 516 in: Brady & Weil, The Nature and Properties of Soils, 14 th ed.

6 Land management practices Physical Chemical SOIL HEALTH Rest of the environment Biological

7 Agricultural Sustainability is defined by four generally agreed-upon goals: Satisfy human food, feed, and fiber needs, and contribute to biofuel needs. (Produce what we want to produce) Enhance environmental quality and the resource base. (Protect the foundation on which it rests) Sustain the economic viability of agriculture. (Provide economic incentive to keep doing it) Enhance the quality of life for farmers, farm workers, and society as a whole. (Support the societal framework that enables it) Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21 st Century. National Research Council, 2010.

8 Soil health represents a framework that integrates many aspects of Managing soil Managing other natural resources Advancing sustainability

9 What are the barriers to using soil health as a means to achieve goals in Agricultural production Natural resources management Sustainability

10 Stakeholder Input

11 The Soil Health Institute s Action Plan Developed though an iterative process with the community of Soil Health scientists and practitioners Goals Desired Outcomes Information Gaps and Management Needs Specific Priorities for Action Specific needs to address information gaps Anticipated products Intended impact Actionable steps

12 We can t implement what we don t know. We don t know what to implement if we don t know the current situation. Land managers won t implement practices if they don t know the costs, risks, and benefits. Nobody will implement something they don t have information about. Policies that don t support it get in the way at best, and oppose it at worst.

13 RESEARCH What we don t know MEASUREMENT & ASSESSMENT What the current status is ECONOMIC ANALYSES What the costs, risks, and benefits are COMMUNICATIONS & EDUCATION Getting the word out POLICY A cornerstone for decision making

14

15 RESEARCH - What we don t know: How can we make reliable management decisions about water availability? Quantitative relationships between soil organic carbon and available water holding capacity. What affects it? What s best for a given crop in a particular region? How do soil properties affect water infiltration rate? Particle size Aggregate stability Porosity Bulk density Mineralogy Earlier water content Traffic patterns How to integrate all this information to make management decisions? USDA-ARS

16 Strzepek et al., 2010

17

18 Key Soil Health Practice: No-Till

19 Key Soil Health Practice: Cover Crops Winter pea, crimson clover, and cereal rye cover crop mix

20 Soil Organic C (Mg/ha) State Years Conventional Tillage No Tillage IA IL IN KY

21 Georgia studies Typic Kanhapludults Franzluebbers (2010) SSSAJ 74:

22 Tillage & Cover Crop Impacts On Water Infiltration Rate Location Years Tillage & Crop Impact on Infiltration Rate Reference KS 15 NT Winter Wheat-Sorghum 182% Increase with Cover Crop Blanco-Canqui et al. (2011) MD 11 NT Corn % Increase with Cover Crop (different sites & years) Steele et al. (2012) KS 11 NT Wheat- Sorghum-Fallow % Increase with No-Till Stone and Schlegel (2010) Malawi 3 NT Corn 165% Increase in No-Till TerAvest et al. (2015)

23 Infiltration Brookings County, SD

24 WATER (% by Volume) SAND FC PWP Available Water Holding Capacity Adapted from Hudson (1994) ORGANIC CARBON (% by Weight)

25 USDA-SARE, CTIC Survey 2012 Corn Yield Drought States

26 RESEARCH - What we don t know: How can we use soil to get the water quality that we need? How does soil health affect water quality? Plant uptake and nutrient use efficiency Nutrient losses Impact of conservation practices quantification at different scales Variation due to climate, production systems, soil types Where soil management would have a benefit, and where it wouldn t

27 National Rivers & Streams Assessment Biological condition: Poor % Fair 23.3% Good 20.7% Unknown 0.8% Greatest stressors: Phosphorous Nitrogen Riparian cover and disturbance Streambed sediment Enterococci Source: USEPA (2016)

28

29

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31 State AL GA KY MD MO Tillage & Crop CT Cotton NT Cotton NT Cotton CT Corn CT Corn CT Corn NT Corn CT Wheat NT Wheat CT Corn NT Corn NT Soybean NT Soybean NT Soybean NT Soybean Tillage & Cover Crop Impacts on Soil & Nutrient Losses Cover Crop None None W. Wheat None W. Rye None Ryegrass None Rye/Alfalfa None Barley None Chickweed C. Bluegrass D. Brome Soil Loss Nitrate N Loss Soluble P Loss (lbs/ac/yr) Reference Yoo et al. (1998) Langdale et al. (1985) Klausner et al. (1974) Angle et al. (1984) Zhu et al. (1989)

32 Cover Crop Impacts on Nitrate Leaching Location Cover Crop Reduction in Reference Nitrate Leaching (%) CA Rye Wyland et al. (1996) DE Rye 30 Ritter et al. (1998) France Ryegrass 63 Martinez and Guirard (1990) IN Winter Wheat 61 Kladivko et al. (2004) (and reduced fertilizer) IA Rye 61 Kaspar et al. (2007) KY Rye 94 McCracken et al. (1994) KY Hairy Vetch 48 McCracken et al. (1994) MD Rye 77 Staver and Brinsfield (1990) MD Rye 80 Staver and Brinsfield (1998) MI Rye Rasse et al. (2000) MN Rye 13 Strock et al. (2004)

33 RESEARCH - What we don t know: Plant nutrients How can we manage them most effectively? What is the effect of plant mixtures? Mixtures, genotypes, multi-lines, cover crops, rotations, sequences Plant to plant Plant to microbe Pathogens, beneficial microbes What are the effects on Microbial biodiversity, community composition (microbiome) Plant, animal residue decomposition Processes influencing mineralization, leaching, plant availability, plant uptake, mycorrhizal function Plant health, resilience to stresses Plant quality nutritional value for human or livestock health Are our fertilizer management recommendations current? Obsolete? Modern genotypes? New environments? n.ac.uk/sites/def ault/files/events/ CerealCloverMi xturefield345x2 50.jpg? c.org/ka-perseusimages/3ad78bcb8 eab01a d 78ea0cb640c7ddc 0.png g

34 RESEARCH - What we don t know: What is the potential for using soil health to help manage human health? How might managing for soil health affect human health? Soil microbiome influence on the human microbiome Nutritional value of foods Food safety Water and air quality Manure and pathogens Photos: Orgiazzi et al., Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas. European Commission, Luxembourg.

35 RESEARCH - What we don t know: How can soil health help manage greenhouse gases? Which management practices capture carbon and enhance soil health? What data are already out there? How do we estimate the practical limits of soil C sequestration? How do we factor in different soil types, environments? How much variation is introduced by different crops and management systems? Photos: Orgiazzi et al., Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas. European Commission, Luxembourg.

36

37 South Dakota

38 Northern Mixed Grass Prairie Cheyenne, WY; Treatment Soil C, 0-5 cm (Mg/ha) Soil N, 0-5 cm (Mg/ha) No Grazing 10.8 b 0.94 b Light Grazing 13.8 a 1.23 a Heavy Grazing 10.9 b 0.94 b Ganjegunte et al. (2005)

39 MEASUREMENT & ASSESSMENT - What is the current situation for soil health in the United States? What does it mean? Any large-scale assessment depends on effective partnerships across the public and private sectors. Generate data and analyses to: establish baselines for soil health at regional to national scales; identify trends in changes in soil health; establish a context to interpret soil health information obtained for individual land managers and local decision makers; support selection of land management practices that will lead to improvements in soil health and the resulting benefits to agricultural production and natural resources; and provide information to policy makers responsible for public policies in agriculture and natural resources. 39

40 The National Soil Health Assessment Two needs must be met. Selection of specific measurements of soil physical, chemical, and biological properties having known relationships to land management practices and soil health. Creation of a sampling design and protocols that can be deployed in procedurally and statistically rigorous ways that will enable valid conclusions to be drawn from the data. 40

41 Nat. Soil Health Assmt: Increasing Scale Test sampling designs and protocols on selected soils Expand into additional locations to estimate spatial variability Diversify into locations on long-term research facilities where data can be related to management practices, in some cases over decades. Encompass the entire nation s soils that are important in agricultural production and natural resources conservation. Interpret soil health data in the context of other information Soil Location Weather history Management history and practices Agricultural productivity Leading to an ability to make management recommendations and enhance soil health on local to national scales. 41

42 MEASUREMENT & ASSESSMENT - Determining the current situation What is the best way to quantify soil health? What measurements are available to us now? Physical texture, structure, water infiltration Chemical nutrient concentrations, ph, CEC Biological soil respiration, nutrient transformations. Who decides which are best? Is a particular measurement useful everywhere? Scale? USDA-ARS USDA-ARS

43 MEASUREMENT & ASSESSMENT - Determining the current situation What combinations of measurements are useful? Are they useful everywhere? Soil Management Assessment Framework Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health Haney Test Others? USDA-ARS USDA-ARS USDA-ARS org/images/publications/ss saj/68/6/1945f1.jpeg l.edu/sites/sips.cals.c ornell.edu/files/styles/ people_large/public/p eople/shmanualx150.jpg?itok= hz9jahc_

44 MEASUREMENT & ASSESSMENT - Determining the current situation Where to start on a National Soil Health Assessment? Information useful on individual farms Provide a baseline for tracking status and trends at different scales USDA-ARS USDA-ARS USDA-ARS

45 ECONOMIC ANALYSES - Costs, risks, benefits: How can we use soil health to keep farmers in business? How does soil health affect year-to-year variability in yield? How does soil health contribute to farm profitability? What is soil health worth? How to factor economic information into soil health management decision making? USDA-ARS USDA-ARS USDA-ARS USDA-ARS USDA-ARS

46 COMMUNICATIONS & EDUCATION - Getting the word out: How do we ensure this information is used? What kind of communication is most effective? Who is the audience? Who should partner with whom? Where can the information be found? USDA-ARS USDA-ARS h=950&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=x&ved=0ahukewiy3fjc2_7rahxi5iykhwefboaq_auibygc#tbm=is ch&q=website+on+computer&imgdii=g2d4y24ss7c_mm:&imgrc=lq06kcwachmcvm: USDA-ARS k.com/files/styles/cover/public/2015/10/19/ cover1800-x-2400.jpg USDA-ARS OcifQJyBu8U/S1600-R/2010+conference+letterhead+A.jpg USDA-ARS

47 POLICY Make soil health the cornerstone of natural resources management policies nationwide Which current policies affect soil health? Intended and unintended consequences Incentives and disincentives Where can information on soil health have influence? Farm Bill which Titles? State and Local jurisdictions What works? What doesn t? USDA-ARS USDA-ARS USDA-ARS USDA-ARS USDA-ARS

48 We can go a long way in addressing these kinds of problems through research on soil and soil health.

49 Mission Safeguard and enhance the vitality and productivity of soil through scientific research and advancement

50 Photo credit: wsorc.org

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