Building Soil Health in Maryland Through Agricultural Service Provider Education

YEAR 1 (October 1, 2014 – September 30, 2015)

Milestones with Broadly Recruited Ag. Service Providers

1. 300 unique visitors will view new soil health web pages within the UMD Extension website populated with a project description, existing soil health publications, and new project publications as they are developed, as tracked by traffic analysis program (Oct. 2014 – Sep. 2015)

Complete. Website created with a description of the Building Soil Health (BSH) project, information on upcoming soil health events, handouts and video recordings from past events, a form for signing up for the email distribution list, and a page with links to vetted external resources.

2. 375 ag. service providers and any additional program participants will be invited to join a new Google Group as a forum for discussion, questions, and announcements related to Maryland soil health. (Oct. 2014)

Complete. A Google Group was created and program participants were invited to join as well as a list of several hundred additional ag. service providers. Approximately 80 joined the list, which was used by myself and other members to share upcoming internal and external soil health events. General discussion was encouraged, although momentum has been slow to build. The deletion of the UMD Google account with admin privileges for the group has closed the group (hopefully temporarily). I hope to reestablish this account and access to the group.

3. 375 agricultural service providers receive advertisements for the introductory webinar, which will feature an overview of the three year project, a description of the opportunity to participate at a higher level by applying to join the “core group,” and basic soil health concepts; will be taught by project coordinator and one or more soil health experts from advisory committee. (Oct. 2014)

Complete. Invitations to an introductory webinar were sent to more than 400 ASPs as well as members of additional mailing lists, like the Certified Crop Advisors.

4. 50 ag. service providers register for the webinar and take live online polls—one poll pre-webinar to assess baseline level of knowledge and confidence in soil health concepts, and another poll post-webinar to measure knowledge gained, intent to include soil health concepts in future programs, and interest in attending future in-depth education programs. (Nov. 2014)

Complete. 60 people (23% NRCS, 23% UMD Extension, 11% Soil Conservation District, 9% UMD (non-Extension), 12% CCA/private consultant, 6% non-profit, 6% MD Dept. of Ag, 3% farmer/producer, 3% other) participated in the introductory webinar on 1/28/15 titled, “Building Soil Health: Why it Matters.” David Lamm (National Soil Health and Sustainability Team Leader, Natural Resources Conservation Service) was the featured speaker, who covered the many benefits of building soil health. I presented an overview of the Building Soil Health project and plans for future project activities. 

According to before and after polls, average participant knowledge in selected topics increased as follows: 8% in cover crops, 7% in soil microbes, and 7% in no-till/conservation till. In the 6 months following the event, participants were 9% more likely to provide soil health information to clients through referrals to publications or websites, and 5% more likely to coordinate or teach an event where soil health is the primary topic. Participants also reported on average a 12% increase in their confidence in their ability to evaluate a field’s soil health.

5. 15 farmers and 5 ag. service providers will attend a soil health session at the January CASA/Future Harvest conference to learn basic concepts of soil health with a focus on no till/reduced till practices taught by one or more soil health experts from advisory committee. (Jan. 2015)

Complete. 40 people attended a session that I presented on soil health and cover crops at the Future Harvest CASA conference on 1/20/15. It was not possible to distinguish farmers from ASPs or to conduct surveys due to the nature of the conference, so for the purposes of reporting I will assume they were all farmers.

6. 50 ag. service providers (including 30 members of core group) will attend a morning workshop on no-till/reduced-till practices taught by one or more soil health experts from advisory committee (followed by afternoon planning session below). (Jan. 2015)

Complete. 25 participants (27% NRCS, 20% farmer/producer/grower, 13% private consultant, 13% Soil Conservation District, 7% UMD (not Extension), 7% non-profit, 7% MD Dept. of Ag, and 7% other) attended a workshop in Apr. 2015 covering a brief overview of soil health principles by myself, an in-depth presentation on farming practices that can build soil health by Gordon Johnson (University of Delaware), a visit to the host facility’s cover crop overseeding in soybeans, and a session on adult learning principles and techniques by Janet McAllister (Northeast SARE).

According to before and after polls, average participant knowledge in selected topics increased as follows: 16% in soil health measurement and evaluation, 14% in compaction mitigation, 8% in no-till/conservation till, and 8% in increasing organic matter. In the 6 months following the event, participants were 6% more likely to coordinate or teach an event where soil health is the primary topic. Participants also reported on average a 16% increase in their confidence in their ability to evaluate a field’s soil health.

The workshop was followed by a discussion session (see Core Group, milestone 3, below).

7. 200 unique visitors will view a new fact sheet (2-4 pages) summary of soil health practices adapted for Maryland, written by the project director and members of the advisory committee, published on the UMD Extension website, and advertised through the ag. service provider email list, county ag. newsletters, and other appropriate distribution channels. (Nov. 2014 – Apr. 2015)

Not Completed. This planned fact sheet specific to Maryland was intended to address the best soil health building practices within the framework of the MD Cover Crop Incentive Program, which at the time of project development, did not allow for the use of any legume crops (i.e., farmers could not plant legume cover crops and also receive incentive payments). Legume cover crops are now allowed by the incentive program, and further big changes to the program are under discussion. Pre-existing soil health publications made available by partners (e.g., Cornell and NRCS) are therefore sufficient, although the need for publications specific to Maryland will continue to be evaluated as the incentive program continues to evolve.

8. 100 unique visitors will view a new bulletin (12-14 pages) with details of soil health practices adapted for Maryland, written by the project coordinator and members of the advisory committee, and published on the UMD Extension website, and advertised through the ag. service provider email list, county ag. newsletters, and other appropriate distribution channels. (Jan. 2014 – Jun. 2015)

Not Completed. See note above for Milestone 7.

9. 50 ag. service providers will attend one of four field days taught by the project coordinator and members of the advisory committee and offered in each of the four Maryland regions; participants will gain knowledge and confidence in no till/reduced till practices and soil health evaluation as a part of soil health improvement through witnessing successful adoption of the practice (May – Jul. 2015)

Complete. 75 participants attended one of four events offered throughout Maryland:

BSH workshop and farm tour at Ernst Farm (Western MD, large, mixed use, 16 participants) and at Sassafras Creek Farm (Southern MD, small, vegetable, 18 participants). The total of 34 participants had the following affiliations: 25% Soil Conservation, 22% NRCS, 12% commercial, 9% UMD Extension, 9% farmer, 6% UMD (no Extension), 3% non-profit, 3% MD Dept. of Ag., and 3% other. According to before and after polls (responses were online and mixed into one batch), average participant knowledge in selected topics increased as follows: 12% in soil health measurement and evaluation, 6% in compaction mitigation, and 6% in sediment and erosion control. In the 6 months following the event, participants were 15% more likely to coordinate or teach an event where soil health is the primary topic. Participants also reported on average a 7% increase in their confidence in their ability to evaluate a field’s soil health.

“Crop Showcase” with a soil health focus coordinated by The Mill crop advisor team and hosted by Clear Meadow Farm (Central MD, large, grain).  I was in the process of organizing my own workshop and discovered that this large event was already scheduled nearby within a few weeks of my proposed dates. I arranged with the event coordinator for a special discussion session for ASPs after the main event and sent announcements to my lists. Eight ASPs (3 NRCS, 2 ARS, 2 private consultant, 1 UMD Extension) attended as a result. Logistical issues on the day of the event prevented a formal meeting as planned, but valuable informal discussions still took place (including one in depth conversation on adult learning principles) in addition to the cover crop demonstrations and soil health talks already on the agenda.

2015 UMD Eastern Shore Small Farm Conference Soil Health Workshop. Note: this workshop took place on November 6, 2015, after the project year end date, but was considered to fill the need for a Lower Shore workshop during the 2015 project year; numbers are not included in milestone summary below.  The annual UMES Small Farm Conference included soil health as one of its several pre-conference workshop topics this year, taught by myself and Jarrod Miller (Univ. of MD Extension Ag Educator). 35 participants (30 farmers, 5 ASPs) learned how to interpret standard soil test and soil health test results, the basic principles of soil health, and witnessed several principles and practices in the field. Conference organizers administered the standard conference evaluation form instead of the BSH project evaluation survey. Results are forthcoming from conference organizers.

10. 25 UMD Extension ag. educators will attend a one hour soil health session at the Maryland Association of County Ag. Agents conference to learn the importance of soil health testing and techniques for soil health evaluation taught by one or more soil health experts from advisory committee (Jul. 2015)

In Progress. I had a long-standing schedule conflict with this conference and could not attend. Travel budget restrictions for UMD Extension agents also led to very light attendance. I plan to include this session in the 2016 conference agenda.

Milestones with Core Group of Ag. Service Providers

1. 375 ag. service providers will be invited to apply for membership in the “core group”; membership will provide access to limited funding, program support, and demonstration plots, and will require a commitment to attending workshops and incorporating soil health into their own programs. (Nov. 2014)

In Progress. I have not yet created an application process for a core group, as I have struggled to develop a set of tangible benefits to offer potential members. However, a small group of ASPs enthusiastic about soil health has naturally emerged and regularly attends project events.

2. 30 ag. service providers who applied for membership in the “core group” will be selected to join. (Dec. 2014)

In Progress. See note above for milestone 1.

3. 30 members of core group will meet in an afternoon session (following educational morning session above) to develop and implement plan for four demonstration sites across Maryland. (Jan. – Sep. 2015)

Complete. The workshop described above (Ag. Service Providers, Milestone 6) was followed by a discussion session (12 ASP participants) on promoting adoption of best practices for building soil health in Maryland, which generated ideas and strategies to move the BSH project and soil health in general forward. This was considered to be the first meeting of the Maryland Soil Action Group. Examples of discussion points include:

1. establish demonstration farms, one of which should be organic;
2. work with fertilizer sales reps to find a soil health angle in their work;
3. train NRCS staff on how to ask farmers about their soil health goals and interpret soil health test results;
4. develop a list of cheap and easy measurement tools to try on farm; and
5. develop a comparison of Haney and Cornell soil health tests.

4. 10 enthusiastic and highly involved Maryland program participants will be identified and invited to attend Northeast SARE cover crops conference, all expenses paid by NE SARE, and to participate in conference development to ensure that program is relevant to Maryland needs (Sep. 2015)

Complete. Team size is now limited to six by NE SARE. MD NRCS has identified one representative from the state office (Christy Brown, state agronomist) and will also identify one additional representative, probably from a field office. The team will also include myself as leader, and a mix of farmers and MD Dept. of Ag. Representatives, to be identified shortly

YEAR 2 (October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016)

Activities are divided below by two target groups: the larger population of ag. service providers, and the smaller core group that were identified in Year 1.

Educational opportunities for Year 2 will include a regional cover crops conference, four field-based farmer workshops, a session at the Future Harvest/CASA conference, and a follow-up meeting to the conference. The focus will gradually shift from no till/conservation till practices to cover crops and their links to reduced pest pressure, pesticide inputs, nutrient loss, soil compaction, and soil erosion; and increased soil moisture and crop yields. A new fact sheet on tillage practices will also be developed.

 Milestones with Broadly Recruited Ag. Service Providers

1. 15 farmers and 10 ag. service providers will attend a soil health session at the January CASA/Future Harvest conference to learn basic concepts of soil health with a focus on soil pathogens taught by one or more soil health experts from advisory committee. (Jan. 2016)

Complete. I served on the conference planning committee and helped determine the content of the program. A 2.5 hour soil health pre-conference workshop was taught by one UMD faculty member and one farmer associate with this project. A 1.25 hour lecture on advanced soil health topics including …was also included in the program and 35 farmers and 8 service providers participated.

2. New Milestone. 50 ag. service providers will attend one of four field days coordinated by attendees at the March 2016 Regional Cover Crop conference (described below) and offered in each of the four Maryland regions; participants will gain knowledge and confidence in no till/reduced till practices and soil health evaluation as a part of soil health improvement through witnessing successful adoption of the practice (May – Jul. 2016)

Complete. See details below.

3. 200 unique visitors will view a new fact sheet (2-4 pages) on no till/reduced till practices, written by the project coordinator and members of the advisory committee, published on the UMD Extension website, and advertised through the ag. service provider email list, county ag. newsletters, and other appropriate distribution channels. (Nov. 2015 – Apr. 2016)

Not yet completed. Fact sheet will include lessons learned from first year of Cover Crops project.

Milestones with Core Group of Ag. Service Providers

1. 30 members of core group will meet to learn current state of cover crop practices in Maryland and discuss opportunities for improvement. (Nov. 2014 – Sep. 2015)

Complete. 25 members met in April 2015 and discussed priority topics and methods for reaching farmers with soil health information and best practices. The discussion informed future outreach efforts, e.g., a highly simplified field evaluation for NRCS/Soil Conservation staff to perform with farmer clients involving only a shovel, pin flag, and basic scorecard. 

2. Coordinator and 6 core group members identified in Year 1 will attend Northeast SARE “Cover Crops for Soil Health” conference in Baltimore, MD to increase knowledge of technical details of cover crop practices and benefits to soil health, and to develop cover crop education action plan for implementation in Maryland with two strategies: promoting the inclusion of soil health-based cover crop principles in existing ag. service provider programs and consultations (led by project coordinator), and increasing rates of cover crop adoption and improving practices of farmers who have already adopted cover crops through farmer programs (led by the team). (Dec. 2015 – Mar. 2016)

Complete. I identified 7 key players in Maryland Cover Crop and soil health practices (see below in “Key Individuals”) to attend this training along with myself, serving as team leader. The group met by conference call before the training and brainstormed pressing needs in Maryland in terms of cover crop adoption and best practices. The topics of cover crop planting and kill dates rose to the surface as appropriate issues to address through the project.

During the training, the group engaged in intensive workshops and an enlightening field trip. A rough extension and outreach plan was developed during the team work session, with a focus on delaying the common practice of killing rye on March 1, the first date allowed by the MD cover crop incentive payment program. The formal project proposal was submitted and approved. I will continue to serve as team leader and PI on the project, which will mesh very well with this PDP project. Both have similar goals, with the PDP project having a primary audience of ag service providers and a broader range of topics within soil health, and the cover crops project having a more focused topic and a target audience of farmers.

3. 6 core group members that attended “Cover Crops for Soil Health” conference will implement the plan developed at the conference with assistance from the project coordinator and advisory committee, which will include the implementation of any new cover crop techniques on four existing demonstration sites, and the majority of the coordination for four MD regional field-based workshops for ag. service providers and farmers in Year 3 at four demonstration sites. (Jan. – Sep. 2016)

Complete. The project team has met by phone to plan the details of the first steps of the project. I have worked closely with the Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) project to recruit farmers for participation in their project, which is a prerequisite for participation in this SARE project. Of the 11 total farmers recruited for the CIG project (several with multiple fields), the SARE project team will identify 4 to invite to participate as demonstration farmers for this SARE project. The project team will meet again by phone in January to select these four farmers based on their geographical location, their practices, and their likelihood of enthusiastic participation.

Substantial progress has also been made on the soil health self-evaluation tool. Myself and Travis Martin have been working closely with the authors of "Soil Health in field and forage crop production," Sjoerd Duiker, Lisa Blazure, and Joel Myers, to develop a draft of the tool. This sub-committee met by phone and in person to develop the set of multiple choice questions based on the 14 criteria for good soil health management described in the publication. The sub-committee also developed a corresponding scoring rubric that generates an overall soil health management score, as well as sub-scores for each of the 14 criteria. Users will also receive a report with a spiderweb (or radar) graph that will visually highlight areas of good management and areas with room for improvement. After some refinements, the tool will be ready for field testing in early 2017.

4. 30 members of the core group will attend a statewide meeting taught by one or more soil health experts from advisory committee to learn about soil health practices with a focus on cover crops in the context of Maryland nutrient management regulations and the cover crop incentive program. (Jul. 2016)

Not Complete. 3 months of parental leave delayed planning for this event. I will coordinate this meeting in conjunction with one of the centrally located Spring field workshops.

Activities are divided below by two target groups: the larger population of ag. service providers, and the smaller core group that were identified in Year 1.

Milestones with Broadly Recruited Ag. Service Providers

1. 200 unique site visitors will view a new fact sheet detailing demonstration site farming practices, data on costs, benefits, and predicted future benefits published on the UMD Extension website and advertised through the ag. service provider email list, county ag. newsletters, and other appropriate distribution channels. (Oct. 2016 – Jul. 2017)

Incomplete. Results of Year 1 of the delayed cover crop termination demonstration were inconclusive, so the fact sheet was postponed pending further study. 

2. 10 ag. service providers and 10 farmers will take a continuing education soil health class offered at Chesapeake College. The course will be taught by Nicole Fiorellino and other soil health experts. (Jan. – Mar. 2017)

Incomplete. This activity was not completed due to project team's time restraints.

1. 200 people will view a new five-minute video with footage from representative stages of the growing year and detailing demonstration site farming practices, data on costs, benefits, and predicted future benefits published on the UMD Extension website and advertised through the ag. service provider email list, county ag. newsletters, and other appropriate distribution channels. (Oct. 2016 – May 2017)

Complete. A formal video has not yet been produced, but two informal demonstration videos from field days have been published and promoted. The first (https://youtu.be/J6Z5Fyf948I) is a demonstration of a roller crimper from a Crop Showcase field day coordinated by The Mill, and has 2,350 views. The roller crimper aids with the practice of delaying cover crop termination, and the model demonstrated is articulated to accommodate contour changes in the field. The second (https://youtu.be/6G9LRrRBsAU?t=2m37s) is a segment from RFD TV Market Day Report (4/25/17) in which Ben Hushon (Crop Consultant, The Mill) describes the cover crop demonstration project along with footage from the field day on 4/18/17. 

4. 40 ag. service providers and 40 farmers will attend one of four MD regional field-based workshops highlighting new or improved cover crop techniques at the four demonstration sites. (Apr. 2017)

Complete. A session on the Maryland Soil Health Card was included in the 2017 Maryland Association of County Agriculture Agents annual conference, which included 40 extension educators (ASPs). The session was intended to take place in the field, but logistical barriers precluded this option. Instead, a large soil sample was brought into the classroom to simulate the field evaluation as closely as possible. Other related educational activities included a soil health presentation at the annual Howard County nutrient management (19 ASPs and 22 farmers), a soil health presentation for the training class of 10 Volunteers as Chesapeake Stewards (VoiCeS), a tabletop slake test at the 2016 UMD Eastern Shore Small Farm Conference (25 farmers) and tabletop slake test and rainfall simulator demonstrations at the 2017 UMD Extension Program Summit (25 ASPs; Facebook demonstration video here, 163 views). 

4. 150 program participants will be invited to participate in project evaluation and performance verification, including an online survey focusing on the rate of adoption of soil health concepts and management practices into existing ag. service provider programs and consultations, new education programs with a soil health focus, number of participants attending each program type, farmed acreage represented by attendees, and reported intent to adopt new practice by attendees. Respondents will also be asked to report any farmer level data they may have on the adoption of soil health evaluation and management practices. (Jun. – Jul. 2017)

Complete. An email invitation to complete a Qualtrics survey was sent to a list of 250 people who have participated or shown interest in the project, mostly ASPs. See "Performance Target Outcomes" below for a detailed description of the survey and results.

4. 10 phone interviews will be conducted to collect anecdotes and keys to success from highly involved project participants, and to evaluate non-response bias in project participants that did not respond to surveys. (Sep. 2017)

Incomplete. This activity was not completed due to project team's time restraints. Survey respondents were offered the opportunity to enter success stories.

Milestones with Core Group of Ag. Service Providers

Description: Affiliations of core group members include the state NRCS office, county NRCS offices, county Soil Conservation Districts, private consultants, ag marketing specialists, and farmer/educators. Approximately 20 members participate regularly.

1. 30 members of the core group will attend a winter meeting to discuss results of demonstration sites and plans for continuing education and outreach through project completion and afterwards. (Feb. 2017)

Incomplete. This activity was not completed due to project team's time restraints.

1. 10 core group members that attended cover crop conference will coordinate and offer four MD regional field-based workshops for ag. service providers and farmers at four demonstration sites. (Apr. 2017)

Complete. The cover crop session at Clear Meadow Farm on 9/7/17 included content from both this project and the related Cover Crop Initiative project (ONE16-282c), with 33 ASPs and 22 farmers in attendance. This related project also hosted 3 spring workshops (total of 37 ASPs, 18 farmers) at its three delayed cover crop termination field demonstration farm sites. These programs included a hands-on demonstration of the Maryland Soil Health Card.

1. 30 core group members will attend a project wrap-up meeting to evaluate project successes and challenges, answer any remaining questions, and develop/confirm a plan for implementing soil health practices into their continued work with farmers, including the possible continued use of demonstration sites. They will also each receive 20 copies of the fact sheet described above and a DVD copy of the video described above (in addition to YouTube link; additional DVDs available upon request). Suggestions for use of each will be covered during the meeting. (Aug. 2017)

Partially complete. A needs assessment survey tool was distributed to the project mailing list and UMD Extension faculty (~400 recipients) to determine the topic of the PD's following 3 year state project (2017-2020). Soil health was reported as a topic with ongoing need for support and training, and was therefore selected as the topic for the following state project (https://projects.sare.org/sare_project/neumd17-001/).