Improving Drought Resilience And Reducing Nutrient Loss Are Focus Of The Soil Health Institute

The plan of soil health experts from across North America is to integrate more research projects to provide agricultural producers and policy makers with economically relevant, science-based recommendations for improving drought resilience as well as reducing nutrient losses.

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The Soil Health Institute (SHI), an organization consisting of a broad collaboration of agricultural leaders, held its first annual meeting July 27-29 in Louisville, KY.  Approximately 130 soil health experts, including growers, land grant university specialists, USDA scientists, conservation leaders, soil laboratory scientists, and foundation/non-governmental organization leaders identified key soil processes influencing productivity, resilience and environmental quality during the meeting.

Members’ goals include conducting a national assessment of soil health and producing a digital decision support tool that enables growers to anticipate which soil amendments and crop rotations will have the greatest impact on a field’s annual return. The Institute also will curate soil health research reports and information.

In future research, members agreed to:

  • Prioritize economic return on investment for growers, focusing on single-year benefits when possible;
  • Include growers in Institute committees, research planning and development;
  • Build a planned network of experimental research that allows researchers in biology, physics, chemistry, economics, agronomy, and sociology to collaborate and integrate research, which will provide growers and policy makers with accurate information;
  • Prioritize soil vitality, identifying the research gaps that will answer questions such as which crop rotations improve microbial soil function – improving drought resilience, increasing water infiltration rates and storage, decreasing run-off, and reducing soil-borne diseases, as well as improving yield and quality;
  • Focus on cropland and grazing land first and forest land in the future.

Members envision a dynamic Soil Health Cloud, supported by SHI’s new Research Landscape tool, which ultimately will bring Big Data to researchers, farmers and policy makers.

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