ISAP Kicks Off Soil Health Leadership Program with First Training Session

On August 20th and 21st, the first session of the Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership Soil Health Leadership Program met in Peoria, IL at Illinois Central College. This two-day meeting included classroom instruction on principles of soil health and soil biology, as well as hands-on, in-field demonstrations on the Illinois Central College campus and on a nearby farm managed using regenerative practices. The training participants represent a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences, including dairy and row crop farms as well as agribusiness.

Day 1 Introduction

Barry Fisher started the morning classroom presentation with an overview of soil health, beginning with this Hugh Hammond Bennett quote: If we are bold in our thinking, courageous in accepting new ideas, and willing to work with instead of against our land, we shall find in conservation farming an avenue to the greatest food production the world has ever known. The heart of regenerative agriculture is the ability to work with nature, mimicking natural systems to minimize our negative impact and maximize our beneficial contributions to the ecosystem – which includes people. Regenerative agriculture can make farming operations more resilient, which can also help farmers and the farming community also become more resilient. 

Expert guest speakers present during classroom session at Illinois Central College.

These processes go by many names: regenerative agriculture, sustainable agriculture, conservation agriculture, climate-smart agriculture – and others. The underlying idea is the same – following the principles of soil health can improve many aspects of farming, including more carbon sequestration, better water infiltration (and fewer problems with ponding or flooding), more nutrient-dense food, reduced reliance on expensive inputs, and improved soil functioning. Soil health is defined as “the continued capacity of the soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans.” It may surprise many people to learn (or remember) that soil is a dynamic living ecosystem, home to earthworms, fungus, bacteria, and microorganisms. 

Soil Health, Explained

Soil does four things: it infiltrates, stores, and filters water; it provides physical stability and support (not unlike fascia does within the human body); it cycles nutrients; and it provides a habitat for life, both above and under the ground. Tilling disrupts soil health: increased tillage leads to decreased residue, diversity, and aggregate stability. This in turn leads to decreased soil organic matter, increased erosion, and increased compaction. Pete Fandel’s afternoon explanation of the chemical processes involved in soil health provided the scientific foundation for the classroom and in-field demonstrations. 

Barry Fisher demonstrates a slake test, which visually shows the stability of soil aggregates in water.

 

The class experienced the slake test that measures soil aggregate stability. Soil from the conventionally managed field was the most fragile, disintegrating easily and clouding the water, while regeneratively-managed soil held together better, filtering the water through clearly. This demonstration was similar to the infiltration station at the end of Day 2 that demonstrated the quantity of runoff – soil, nutrients, and inputs – from a hard rain. Farmers are not only losing valuable topsoil and expensive inputs to runoff, but the consequences of nitrogen and phosphorous runoff are contributing factors to the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy aims to scientifically measure, quantify, and identify the sources of problems and work collaboratively with state stakeholders to address the problem of runoff. 

Literal downstream consequences and benefits

It may not be intuitive to connect the dots between individual farmers’ practices in Illinois and problems thousands of miles downstream, but the overuse of fertilizers and other inputs negatively affects the broader ecosystem. Regenerative farming can address the problem of runoff in several ways – by increasing the soil’s capacity to infiltrate, utilize, and store water, by reducing the need for inputs because of cover crops’ weed-suppressive qualities, and by keeping a living root in the ground and residue armor on the surface to help stabilize and protect the soil.

Trainees watch Jim Isermann, ISAP Soil Health Specialist, perform a demonstration using ISAP’s Rainfall Simulator.

On Day 2 at Brad Zimmerman’s farm, we learned about different types of cover crops and when to plant them. The Midwest Cover Crop Council’s Cover Crop Selector Tool is a useful planning device for farmers to determine which crops are ideal to build soil health. The MCCC suggests that following soybean, going to corn, use a mix of oats and radishes. Following corn going to soybean, use cereal rye. 

Cover Crops

In the classroom, we learned about many different types of cover crops and their benefits. Cereal rye is winter hardy and easy to establish. Barley has a lower carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and has a good root system. Oats are good for lower management and can winterkill north of I-70. Annual ryegrass is a favorite because it is economically friendly but requires a higher level of management with regards to termination. In the brassicas, turnips and radishes are excellent to increase the microorganism biodiversity and address soil compaction. Rapeseed has good weed suppression benefits and is winter hardy. Winter camelina is good if cover crops are planted late, as well as for mix requirements. Winter peas are ideal for foraging, but need to be drilled in, not flown on. Vetch is a late-maturing option and fits well in a corn rotation. Crimson clover is easy to establish and is a great starter legume. 

Systems-thinking in farming

In farming, the whole of the system is greater than the sum of its parts, and the farmers themselves are central to the system. One good way to get started is to begin with small steps rather than going “all-in” right away. We learned about innovative edge-of-field management strategies, such as wetlands, and saw drone application of cover crops that can all make positive changes in the farming system. It’s important to remember you don’t have to do everything at once. We didn’t get to where we are now overnight, and change won’t happen overnight either.  

Doing something different involved changing not only practices, but perceptions. With any change, new problems will arise, and even if the path to regenerative farming is worthwhile, it can still be difficult. When you begin, you don’t know what you don’t know, and that can be daunting. When you tug on one thread in the farming system, sometimes it’s not clear where that thread ends and what the effects might be. Having a farming community to brainstorm and troubleshoot with can provide support and increase the chances that the new regenerative practices will have longevity.

Final thoughts

Conventional agriculture has decreased the resilience of the agricultural and social systems in the U.S. (and worldwide). Farmers and farming systems are more stressed. When people are under chronic stress – like farmers are – they get tunnel vision. It’s hard to consider doing something differently when the profit margins are tight, input costs are rising, and there is more unpredictability, uncertainty, and instability in the system due to problems beyond our control, like weather and global conflicts. Chronic stress leads people to compartmentalize and perceive problems in isolation. For example, rather than looking at the total production costs that include seed, fertilizer, diesel, and inputs, we tend to focus on a single indicator of productivity: maximizing yield. 

However, research has demonstrated that regenerative farming is not only ecologically beneficial, but economically profitable as well. Getting started is the tough part. Programs like the Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership help farmers overcome this through programs like the Soil Health Leadership Program, connecting farmers with resources and each other. 

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Leah Windsor

Dr. Leah C. Windsor is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at The University of Memphis, and a fourth-generation farmer from Southern Illinois.