Economic and Environmental Benefits of Helping Crop Producers Focus on Soil Health

Agriculture currently comprises 55 percent of habitable land and 66 percent of annual fresh water usage and per capita land and water availability will decrease with increased population growth. Decreases in access to arable land place additional emphasis on the need for improved cropping system efficiency while improving environmental resources such as soil health and water quality. In the U.S., the major crop production regions facing the greatest challenges include the Mississippi River Basin, the Great Lakes Basin and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. This project will address the need for improved soil health and water quality by developing recommendations to farmers on a variety of soil management practices aimed at improving productivity, profitability and environmental outcomes; increasing adoption of those recommendations beyond the network of demonstration farms; increasing the visibility and importance of sound soil management and agricultural sustainability to crop producers and the general public and quantifying the economic impacts (to individual crop producers and in aggregate) of adopting various practices intended to improve soil health.