Setting and Exceeding Community Benchmarks for Soil Health

We are advancing three innovative ideas for generating real improvements in soil health on working farms: 1.) a citizen-science approach to monitor community progress and draw insights from the practices of soil health leaders, 2.) open-source farm management software to facilitate data collection on working farms, 3.) outcome-based marketing that educates consumers on the importance of soil health and adds value to the businesses of farmers practicing excellent soil stewardship. Our project will prepare participating farmers to achieve on-going, measurable changes in soil health, and our methods could be readily adopted by partner organizations working in other regions and with different farmer communities.