Soil Health Institute

Nearly 200 people joined us for a recent webinar on how soil health practices can boost profitability and resilience in small grain farms, moderated by Steven Rosenzweig, Principal Scientist at General Mills. Find the recording at https://zurl.co/2l2X and more about the study – including fact sheets for the U.S. and Canada – at https://zurl.co/UsyQ.

"What makes work such as this valuable is it validates the management decisions farmers make on their farm, often in isolation," writes Laura Rance-Unger of Glacier FarmMedia in the Winnipeg Free Press. "Making change is risky. It helps to know that the long-term benefits outweigh the short-term costs." Read her coverage of our study on the economics of soil health on small grain farms: https://lnkd.in/exFNCy-5

At the ASA, CSSA, SSSA 2024 Bouyoucos Summer Conference in Puerto Rico, SHI Research Soil Scientist Dr. Nate Looker held a well-attended workshop showcasing SHI’s Slakes app — a tool for farmers, land managers, and scientists to measure the effects of land management on soil structure. This session provided an overview of the Slakes measurement workflow and outputs. His presentation included a high-throughput procedure for simultaneous analysis of multiple samples, and results from SHI’s soil health surveys applying the method across the U.S. and Canada. Participants gained hands-on experience calculating aggregate stability values with the app using different soil types from across the island. Learn more about the free app: https://lnkd.in/gX_zJuBM Learn more about SHI’s high-throughput procedure tool: https://lnkd.in/gCH5DbtW #SSSAConf #Slakes 📷: Jacqueline Vega, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

Earlier this month, Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Cristine Morgan shared SHI’s Recommended Measurements for Scaling Soil Health Assessment in a webinar presented by the 4p1000 Initiative as part of EU Green Week. View the recorded session: https://lnkd.in/g26ni5jP

SHI Research Soil Scientist Dr. Dianna Bagnall presented her poster, “Image-Based Estimation of Aggregate Stability Using the Slakes Family of Tools,” at the ASA, CSSA, SSSA 2024 Bouyoucos Summer Conference in Puerto Rico. Aggregate stability, one of the most common indicators of soil health, is now easier to measure using SHI’s Slakes app. Dr. Bagnall’s poster describes the selection of the Slakes method, the current use of the method, and two approaches to using Slakes – the smartphone app and the SlakeItEasy R package. Slakes uses a smartphone camera to take a picture of three dry soil aggregates before and after exposing them to water for ten minutes, then automatically calculates an aggregate stability value. In regional soil health surveys across the U.S. and Canada, Slakes has revealed mean increases in aggregate stability of 10-20% due to tillage reductions and/or cover cropping. The #Slakes app helps scientists and land managers assess the impacts of management decisions on soil health. Have you used SHI’s Slakes app yet? If you have, share your results with us in the comments! #SSSAConf

The Senate of Canada recently issued 25 recommendations for soil health, including designating soil as a strategic national asset, appointing a national soils advocate, and developing a consensus on how to measure, report, and verify soil health. On the latter, the report says, “The Soil Health Institute, located in North Carolina, is doing just that,” citing SHI Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Cristine Morgan's recent testimony. Have you seen the Senate of Canada | Sénat du Canada report? Which recommendations caught your attention?

The U.S. Regenerative Cotton Fund hosted its latest field day at SHI Farmer Mentor Shane Isbell’s farm in Cherokee, Alabama. Soil Health Educator Jessica Kelton gave an overview of the USRCF initiative and SHI’s benchmarking work. Isbell shared his experiences on farming with his family. Dr. Rishi Prasad, Auburn University Extension/Alabama Cooperative Extension System, and Curt Knight, Yara North America Soil Health Agronomist, discussed phosphorus use, soil fertility, and soil health. Jake Harris, Southern Crop Service, and Dr. Steve Li, Auburn University Extension/Alabama Cooperative Extension System, demonstrated using drones on the farm for spot applications — resulting in reduced inputs — and using drones to seed cover crops. Have you used drones to help with soil health practices? Tell us about it in the comments!

SHI President and CEO Wayne Honeycutt, Ph.D., is among 10 international experts selected for SAI Platform's Regenerating Together external stakeholder Advisory Board. The group is charged with advising on key milestones "to ensure that the global framework for regenerative agriculture is actionable at farm level, whilst maintaining scientific rigour."

Join us this Thursday at 2 p.m. EDT for a webinar on how soil health practices boosted profitability and resilience on 15 U.S. and Canadian farms. Register now: https://zurl.co/ue3K.

Taking a moment to celebrate 20,000 followers on LinkedIn! 🎉Thank you to our incredible community from 97 countries around the globe. Together, we've built a vibrant network that’s advancing soil health to benefit agriculture, the environment, and society. Here's to many more milestones and shared successes!