Tag Archives: state of the science

28Apr/23

New Whitepaper Explores the Connection between Soil Health and Water Quality

April 28, 2023Soil Health2023, farming, science, soil, soil health, soils, state of the science, toolbox, water, water qualityLeslie Johnson

The Soil Health Nexus is excited to debut two new resources on the Soil Health Toolbox! Two Soil Health Nexus members, Francisco Arriaga, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Anna Cates, Assistant Professor and State Soil Health Specialist at the University of Minnesota, recently published a long-awaited whitepaper exploring the connection between soil health and water quality.

19Apr/23

Top 10 Impacts of Cover Crops for Soil Health

April 19, 2023Soil Health2023, agriculture, cover crops, digital cafe, on-farm research, research, science, soil health, soil health webinar, soil health webinars, soils, state of the science, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

This Digital Café features Dr. Rob Myers, Director of the University of Missouri Center for Regenerative Agriculture and also Regional Director of Extension Programs for NCR-SARE, discussed several of the key ways that cover crops can improve soil health. These factors include nutrient cycling, soil organic matter, rainfall infiltration, addressing soil compaction, aggregate stability and impacts on earthworms, mycorrhizal fungi, and other aspects of soil biology. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, April 19, 2023.

15Mar/23

Lessons learned from on-farm cover crop research in Nebraska

March 15, 2023Soil Health2023, agriculture, cover crops, digital cafe, extension, farmers, farming, nebraska, on-farm research, research, science, soil, soil health webinar, soil health webinars, soils, state of the science, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

In this Digital Cafe, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Assistant Professor Andrea Basche and PhD graduate student Fernanda Krupek share results from five-year on-farm experiments conducted through a partnership program with Nebraska NRCS and the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network. This includes findings on how cover crops impact soil properties, nutrient cycling, weed communities and best practices for sampling at the farm scale. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.

15Feb/23

Baseline Assessment of the Soil Health in Ohio

February 15, 2023Soil Health2023, baseline, baseline testing, digital cafe, research, science, soil, soil health, soil health testing, soil health webinar, soil health webinars, soil tilth, soils, state of the science, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

A key part of soil health assessments is understanding how soil health indicators vary by soil type. This Digital Café features Christine Sprunger, Assistant Professor of Soil Health at Michigan State University, who outlines a baseline soil health assessment that was conducted in Ohio. The talk also outlines goals for conducting future baseline assessments across the state of Michigan. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, February 15, 2023.

18Jan/23

Prairies and Landscape Change: Notes from the Underground

January 18, 2023Soil Health2023, digital cafe, landscapes, prairie, prairie strips, research, science, soil, soil health webinar, soil health webinars, state of the science, water quality, webinar series, webinarsLeslie Johnson

Restoring prairie from cropland has well-known benefits to soil health – at least to the soil directly underneath the prairie. In this presentation, Dr. Marshall McDaniel, Associate Professor at Iowa State University, shared how might prairie strips, or contour plantings of native prairie species embedded in row crop fields, affect the surrounding soil and crops. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, January 18, 2023.

21Sep/22

Soil Health Practices and Water Behavior and Efforts to Quantify Soil Function

September 21, 2022Soil Health2022, agriculture, digital cafe, extension, farming, research, soil, soil health, soil health webinar, soils, state of the science, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

Soil health is defined in terms of soil function, and some of the most important functions are related to water-holding and water infiltration. Farmers and policy-makers both care about these properties, but they can be elusive to measure. In this edition of the Soil Health Digital Café, Dr. Anna Cates, University of Minnesota Soil Health Specialist, discusses on-farm efforts to quantify changes in soil function with soil health practice adoption, including soil organic matter pools, soil aggregates, and water infiltration. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, September 21, 2022.

17Aug/22

How to Interrogate a Soil

August 17, 2022Soil Health2022, digital cafe, extension, farming, soil, soil health, soil health testing, soil health webinar, soil testing, soils, state of the science, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

This Soil Health Digital Café features Tony Hartshorn, Associate Professor at Montana State University, who discusses his work in the Soil Interrogation Lab at Montana State University, soil literacy, soil remediation, and the importance of knowing your parent material. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, August 17, 2022.

16Mar/22

Long-term Effect of Cover Crops on Soil Health and Crop Yield

March 16, 2022Manure2022, agriculture, cover crops, crops, digital cafe, farmers, farming, soil health, soil health webinar, soil health webinars, soils, state of the science, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

As part of the Soil Health Nexus Digital Cafe Series, Dr. Inderjot Chahal with the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Guelph, presents “Long-term Effect of Cover Crops on Soil Health and Crop Yield”. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, March 16, 2022.

21Jan/22

Quantifying Soil Health: Where are we now?

January 21, 2022Soil Health2022, digital cafe, farmers, manure and soil health, soil health testing, soil health webinar, soil testing, state of the science, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

As part of the Soil Health Nexus Digital Cafe Series, Dr. Jordon Wade, who is an Assistant Professor of Soil Health at the University of Missouri and the Director of the Soil Health Assessment Center presents “Quantifying Soil Health: Where are we now?”. This presentation was originally broadcast on January 19, 2022.

Reliably measuring soil health is essential for determining appropriate management strategies. Current frameworks for interpreting soil health indicators can be difficult to operationalize. How can we use soil health indicators to inform on-farm management? This talk is a check-in on our current frameworks and how reliable they are (or aren’t) in making management decisions.

20Dec/21

Soil Stability Maps to Improve Management for Soil Health and Carbon Markets

December 20, 2021Soil Health2021, agriculture, carbon, digital cafe, farmers, research, satellite images, science, soil health, soil health webinar, soil health webinars, soil maps, state of the science, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

As part of the Soil Health Nexus Digital Cafe Series, Dr. Bruno Basso from the Michican State University present “Soil Stability Maps to Improve Management for Soil Health and Carbon Markets”. This presentation was originally broadcast on December 15, 2021.