Soil Health Case Studies - FIC

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Publications

Soil Health Case Studies

American Farmland Trust (AFT) and partners continue to develop compelling and easy-to-read two-page soil health economic and environmental case studies featuring “soil health successful farmers.” These case studies can be used by farmers and the greater members of the farm conservation community to learn about the costs and benefits of adopting soil health practices and the potential for a return on investment. In turn, the information gives farmers confidence to adopt soil health practices to lessen agriculture’s impacts on water resources, address climate change, and increase farmer resilience and viability.

AFT developed the methods and analysis for producing these case studies with support from a 2018 USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Innovation Grant. All case studies undergo review by NRCS economists and soil health specialists and are co-branded with NRCS’s logo. Producers were interviewed using AFT’s Retrospective Soil Health Economic Calculator (R-SHEC) Questionnaire and Excel-based Tool to gather the quantitative data needed to answer the research question, “Do the on-farm benefits of adopting a soil health practice outweigh the costs?” See the Soil Health Case Studies Methods to learn more.

Note that beginning in 2022, AFT published the first case studies using a different method with the Cornell Dairy Farm Business Summary (DFBS) survey long-term dataset, featuring Mulligan Farm and Table Rock Farm of New York. AFT will publish more case studies featuring dairy farmers who provide data annually via the DFBS survey to answer the research question “Can soil health practices be adopted while improving or maintaining economic performance?”. For more information about this method, find the Cornell DFBS Working Papers on AFT’s Genesee River Demonstration Farms Network website.

Author
Justin Bodell, Brian Brandt, Emily Bruner, Paul Lum, Michelle Perez, Lia Raz, Aaron Ristow, Florence Swartz, Jen Tillman, Ben Wiercinski, Ellen Yeatman, Kent Bohnhoff (AFT Consultant). Partner authors: Maryanne Dantzler-Kyer (Oklahoma Conservation Commission), Meg Greski (Oklahoma Conservation Commission), Blane Stacy (Oklahoma Conservation Commission), Michael Roots (Almond Board of California), John Hanchar (Cornell Extension).
Publisher
Washington, DC: American Farmland Trust and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Page Numbers
2
Publication Date
July 12, 2023
Publication Type
Reports and Guides
State
California, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington
Keywords
Climate Change, Environmental Benefits, Farming Practices, Non Operating Landowners, Soil Health

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