Final report for WPDP21-030
Project Information
The microbes that drive soil nutrient cycling are a largely invisible part of the landscape that can have large impacts on the sustainability of farming practices. In particular, adopting management practices that enhance the function of the soil microbiome holds great potential for reducing reliance on external inputs and therefore enhancing on-farm prosperity. The recent and ongoing explosion of emergent research knowledge on soil microbiomes and concomitant interest by agricultural producers, presents a substantial challenge and opportunity for agricultural professionals. Understanding microbially-mediated soil processes as well as communicating knowledge about the role of soil microbes in the agroecosystem to producers, is a prime target for professional development. Our project proposes to develop a series of animations, in close consultation with leading scientists, and to deploy these within an innovative outreach format “Liberating Structures,” designed to foster peer-learning, co-innovation, and network building between participants. Liberating Structures have worked well with progressive stakeholders in Eastern WA in co-innovation sessions, and we plan to expand the scope of this to include WA, ID, OR, and MT.
The primary objective of this work is to support increased sustainability in the agroecosystem by promoting knowledge of microbial ecology and nutrient cycling processes with the management practices that support them. The sub-objectives of this work are to:
- Reinforce the regional network of scientists working on soil microbial ecology by forming new professional connections and reinforcing existing ones
- Make the most current understanding of microbial ecology in the agroecosystem accessible to agricultural professionals both to enhance their knowledge base as well as to give them new communication tools to interact with their contacts
- Strengthen the network and professional toolkit for agricultural professionals in the inland Pacific Northwest, honoring their existing knowledge and experience by supporting them to co-innovate with their peers on the most effective ways to work with their clients
- Empower agricultural professionals to catalyze change in the region’s agroecosystem towards improving soil health and sustainability
By empowering ag professionals with increased access to the latest, research-based microbial agroecology content, and an introduction to a new set of participatory outreach tools, this program will support them with knowledge and skills. Based on our survey data, they desire to serve producers’ interest in learning more about beneficial microbes. We will support this need across four states. Connecting professionals to fundamental and emergent content from the field of soil microbiology, will enable knowledge transfer in both directions and the most effective deployment of the content. University Extension can serve as an ideal hub for this work because of access to both researchers and outreach networks.
Principles, assumptions and beliefs:
- Many producers have a stated desire to steward their lands sustainably and will take incremental steps to do so when it aligns with production goals and profit margins. Agricultural professionals co-innovate with producers toward conservation and production goals.
Resources:
- Financial/Human:
- The program coordinator alongside PIs and cooperators, will develop video animation content, event planning/hosting/facilitation, project monitoring, evaluation, reporting, and development of presentations and publications.
- Financial/Physical:
- Computer-based technology, sound equipment, programs, delivery platforms, and storage- for animation development and content delivery
Methods:
- Liberating Structures (LS) are powerful, evidence-based, and easy-to-implement facilitation tools
- enables participants to truly engage with co-innovation processes
- outline group size, timing, and prompts to meet a variety of objectives, including “rapidly sifting a group’s most powerful ideas”
- LS will be used to implement participatory learning events
- To promote peer-learning, increase depth of understanding from video content, explore innovative ways to promote microbes in the cropping system, and inspire strategies for working with producers to synergistically implement new management practices
- Program coordinator will develop short animations using specialized software
- Biorender and/or Blender
- Cooperators will advise and review animations to ensure accuracy and accessibility.
- Animations will be dynamically developed with audience feedback over the implementation period (Sept. ’21 – Aug. ’23).
- Cooperating with networks from well-established Extension programs will enable this program to reach a wide-ranging audience including researchers, Extension specialists, NRCS, conservation districts, and Certified Crop Advisors.
- Electronic communication will be the primary mode for contact
- Events will occur online, and in-person as public health policy and travel dictate appropriate within the program timeline
- WSU Farmers Network website as a communication and content hub
Activities and Timeline:
- Beginning September 2021, we will organize a regional symposium to showcase the latest research on soil microbial ecology
- Engage at least 40 researchers and ag professionals
- Use ‘Ignite’ format
- Following the symposium a needs assessment for ag professionals will be conducted to determine content needs, preferred delivery platforms, and event timing
- Program content and delivery will be refined based on participant feedback
- Animations will be developed continuously throughout the implementation period
- Continuous participatory events will be held targeted toward ag professionals and focused on a particular animation theme, region, or cropping system
- By August 2023, we aim to reach over 100 ag professionals online or in person, across Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana.
Education
The educational approach of the PNW Farmers' Network (the PNWFN) is founded on the 'co-production of knowledge' and with a horizontal, and highly participatory structure, that centers the perspective and experience of all stakeholders in soil health and cropping systems innovation. To achieve this aim, the PNWFN has developed toward offering a range of content and engagement opportunities to the inland Northwest agricultural community. Primary activities include offering participatory learning sessions featuring the latest soil health science from our co-operating scientists across the region to elevate their work, and provide opportunities for co-innovation, and networking around soil health principles. Presentations from the scientists given online are recorded to provide an archive and reference point for recent research being conducted on soil health, microbial agroecokogy, and cropping systems innovation. Making this work available both synchronously for engagement between researchers and the ag community, and asynchronously as recordings, expands the content reach. Newsletters and social media are also leveraged to expand the reach of PNWFN's resources.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Reinforce the regional network of scientists working on soil microbial ecology by forming new professional connections and reinforcing existing ones
Make the most current understanding of microbial ecology in the agroecosystem accessible to agricultural professionals both to enhance their knowledge base as well as to give them new communication tools to interact with their contacts
Strengthen the network and professional toolkit for agricultural professionals in the inland Pacific Northwest, honoring their existing knowledge and experience by supporting them to co-innovate with their peers on the most effective ways to work with their clients
Empower agricultural professionals to catalyze change in the region’s agroecosystem towards improving soil health and sustainability
The first educational programming developed to support the proposal objective was to initiate a monthly "Soil Health Coffee Hour on Zoom". Event invitations and announcements were distributed to professionals from the research, conservation, agriculture industry/advisors, and dryland grain farming community of the Northwest. The event is structured to have a short applied soil health focused presentation of research, followed by an all-group Q&A session. The Q&A session has been followed by one or two 8-15 minute open conversation breakout room sessions with 4-5 participants and adaptively managed and monitored by the facilitator. The meeting is concluded following a short all-group debrief from the breakout sessions. Topics have included biological N fixation, biological soil health indicators, microbial responses to management, the soil food web, suppressive soils and nematodes, and associations between crop rotations and the soil microbiome.
Beginning with topic-focused speakers in the fall of 2022 this event has had more than 862 registrants, 434 attendees at the live events, 184 research, 92 conservation, 75 industry professionals. Zoom reduced place-based barriers to participation and we saw interest in these events marked from across the US, while more than 60% of registrants were from across Washington state and included 24 counties, the next most represented state was Idaho representing 5 counties, followed by Oregon (11 counties) and MT (4 counties).
In total, 20 presentations were hosted, 11 of which focused specifically on recent research conducted on the microbial dimension of soil health in the cropping systems of the inland Northwest. The presentations were recorded beginning in March of 2023. The recordings are archived on the PNWFN Youtube channel. There are 14 recorded presentations with a total of 842 views at the time of the final report.
The breakout room conversations ranged around a variety of topics related to soil health, cropping systems innovation, agronomy, climate, sustainability, and resilient agroecosystems. Questions arose around the implications and interpretations of the data present as well as adjacent topics that arose organically in the session, ideas were exchanged and built on from the various perspectives represented in the space and aligns with co-learning goals. There was high engagement in the breakout room conversations with participants interacting with familiar colleagues and creating new relationships. Multiple collaborative grant proposals and working groups were spawned from these connections.
Work of PI and project collaborators were featured in the series and included work done by or in association with: Dr. Maren Friesen, Dr. Clain Jones, Dr. Christina Haggerty, and Doug Finkelnburg.
Strengthen the community network connections between the PNW Farmers' Network and the agricultural professionals, researchers, and producers in the dryland grain producing region of the Northwest- who are interested in soil health. Provide research-based information to support soil-health focused decision making, and space for co-innovation and co-production of knowledge.
Reinforce the regional network of scientists working on soil microbial ecology by forming new professional connections and reinforcing existing ones
Make the most current understanding of microbial ecology in the agroecosystem accessible to agricultural professionals both to enhance their knowledge base as well as to give them new communication tools to interact with their contacts
Strengthen the network and professional toolkit for agricultural professionals in the inland Pacific Northwest, honoring their existing knowledge and experience by supporting them to co-innovate with their peers on the most effective ways to work with their clients
Empower agricultural professionals to catalyze change in the region’s agroecosystem towards improving soil health and sustainability
The initiation of the Microbial Agroecology project, followed the departure of core investigator, Dr. Haiying Tao. Dr. Tao provided leadership and was the beneficiary of institutional support for the Washington State University(WSU) Farmers Network. When Dr. Tao left WSU, the Farmers Network lost significant infrastructural, institutional, and leadership resources.
In early 2022 the Farmers' Network, re-formed and met with an advisory board of researchers, agricultural professionals, and producers invested in guiding the soil health outreach, stakeholder engagement in the co-production of research and on-farm experimentation related goals of the Farmers' Network and it has evolved into the PNW Farmers' Network (PNWFN). In that meeting a mission statement was developed to drive the continued efforts of the PNWFN's work with soil health and microbial agroecology across the agricultural community at it's core.
Mission statement: The PNW Farmers’ Network(PNWFN) exists for members of the agriculture community interested in soil health and cropping system innovation. Our purpose is to create spaces to share and explore leading-edge ideas to advance agricultural resiliency, and drive relevant research - on the farm, and in the lab, for the dryland grain production region of the iPNW.
The PNWFN space has created opportunity to have multiple projects and funding opportunities develop from the collaborative space, including a project investigating producer interest around compost tea in the region, a canola production podcast, On-Farm Experimentation workshops/presentations, the On-Farm Trials podcast where producers share the what, why, and how of trying things on their working dryland grain farms - with a heavy emphasis on interest in soil ecology, and two years of supporting outreach programming for experiential summer internships for undergraduates - with an emphasis on soil health outreach.
In the summer of 2023 the PNW Farmers' Network did a full 'brand re-launch' that now includes the PNW Farmers' Network website, YouTube Channel, X account, the On-Farm Trials Podcast, and the PNWFN Newsletter.
The PNW Farmers' Network has been working towards it's mission and the objective of the microbial agroecology project by creating highly-engaging, collaborative spaces, in-person and online, where all participants in the ag community who are interested in soil health and cropping systems innovation can work together towards the co-production of knowledge.
Rebuilding and sustaining the infrastructure of the PNW Farmers' Network has been essential towards any further completion of the proposed project objectives and was addressed as a priority effort.
As of the writing of this report:
YouTube Channel - 48 subscribers and 23 videos on soil health and microbial ecology topics
X account - 227 followers
The On-Farm Trials Podcast -almost 4000 listens and growing, predominantly in the Northwest, since July 2023
PNWFN Newsletter - 543 subscribers with regular anecdotal feedback from partners on what a great resource round up it is for soil health and cropping systems innovation- focused events and content.
Undergraduates mentored- 22
Presentations and attendance at workshops, allowing for the building of relationships among the agriculture community, insights and feedback to be response to stakeholder interests, and expansion of project reach.
Deliver science-based information to the agricultural community of the inland Pacific Northwest focused on plant nutrition, with an emphasis on soil health.
Reinforce the regional network of scientists working on soil health by forming new professional connections and reinforcing existing ones.
Strengthen the network and professional toolkit for agricultural professionals in the inland Pacific Northwest, honoring their existing knowledge and experience by supporting them to co-innovate with their peers on the most effective ways to work with their clients
Empower agricultural professionals to catalyze change in the region’s agroecosystem towards improving soil health and sustainability
Science-based information was presented to the audience around the impact of soil acidification on soil health and plant nutrition, nitrogen management for optimum use efficiency, and the fundamentals of mycorrhizae. A panel was utilized to increase audience engagement around nutrient use efficiency, soil acidification, and pollinators. The Liberating Structures tools were utilized for two co-innovation opportunities within the agenda to support synthesis of content. The evaluations from the audience were positive about the inclusion of these activities.
Fifty participants, that included a heavy representation of crop advisers and conservationists from the Washington and Idaho dryland grain production system, were present and engaged throughout.
Evaluations indicate that following the workshop participants would like to: explore the use of the WSU Nitrogen Use Efficiency calculator, reevaluate N rates and timing, read about climate friendly N fertilizer, and look more into measuring pH, liming and aluminum toxicity
To provide a forum to share recent research from the region relevant to amelioration of severely acidic soils, progress the mental model around reluctance in the region to address acidic soil conditions, and better understand the implications of business as usual practices on contributions to soil acidity via nitrification as well as barriers to amelioration practices and resources for taking next steps to ameliorate soil acidity. To lay groundwork for future research to fill gaps in the region's knowledge around soil acidification, including the effects of low pH soils on microbial communities.
Reinforce the regional network of scientists working on soil health by forming new professional connections and reinforcing existing ones.
Strengthen the network and professional toolkit for agricultural professionals in the inland Pacific Northwest, honoring their existing knowledge and experience by supporting them to co-innovate with their peers on the most effective ways to work with their clients
Empower agricultural professionals to catalyze change in the region’s agroecosystem towards improving soil health and sustainability
Soil pH in the inland Pacific Northwest (iPNW) agricultural production systems continues to trend downwards. Many barriers currently exist to using lime as a consistent practice to elevate soil pH above severely acidic levels. Acidic soil pH shifts community composition of the soil microbiome, reduces crop productivity/diversity potential, and nutrient use efficiency. Growers and crop advisers around the region have been interested in strategies to promote soil health, including by supporting a healthy microbiome. Our partnership with University of Idaho and Washington State University Extension created this 10 hour course over three sessions to provide research updates, and also leveraged Liberating Structures with an in-person group with the ag community to identify the challenges, barriers, and solutions to overcoming this barrier to soil and microbial ecology health.
Over 110 contacts with the content were made throughout this event representing industry, conservation, research, and producers in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana. Our team recorded 4 hours of research updates on principles of and remediating soil acidification for archival on the PNWFN YouTube Channel. The work has had implications including: helping to catalyze more accurate lime recommendations in the region and providing a basis for a pilot cost-share project through Idaho NRCS, giving participants a tool/framework for thinking about how each input of nitrogen fertilizer contributes to acidification, participants reporting that they will be looking at base saturation on their soil test reports and using in-field pH meters to look for acidification in the field. Many of the in-person evaluation comments also suggested they appreciated the connections made during the Liberating Structures co-production of knowledge portion of the event.
Generate animated video content demonstrating key microbially-mediated nutrient cycling in soil
Using Blender for an open-source 3-D animation creator, and Adobe Animate, our team created a video illustrating the conversion of ammonium ions in the soil into nitrate through nitrification as a two-step microbial mediated process.
The learning outcomes were largely in the form of capacity-building for animation in the PNW Farmers' Network team. Learning the fundamentals of the Blender animation software was very time-intensive and required long periods of 'deep work' often incompatible with the other leadership activities required for maintaining the structure of the PNW Farmers' Network. The Blender software is a good tool for 3D animation, being open-source makes it cost-accessible, and there are many resources available online for learning the many elements of generating 3D animated videos. The 3D environment has a lot of production complexity, and the decision was made to integrate 2D animations as well. Learning basics in the 2D animation environment was more straightforward, and is an area we hope to continue to explore and leverage. The 2D environment has more room to be 'stylized' towards a production brand, and is effective for communicating ideas conducive to flattening. At the outset of this project our production team was unfamiliar with the animation environment. Our project team found the 3D animation space requires substantial dedicated time investment to overcome a steep learning curve. It is worth further exploration for projects with the capacity to devote to the production and where gains from the 3D animation style is deemed worthwhile to do well. The feedback received for the video produced has been mixed, and is likely influenced by the high quality of CGI in mainstream media calibrating expectations for similar products for science communication. Our team sees value in the ability to use animations to illustrate ideas and processes sometimes difficult for generalist audiences to conceptualize because they are invisible. Developing the technical skills for a trained scientist to create animations has value because they can apply their technical lens to developing highly accurate video content. Alternatively, considerations for contracting with specialists in communication tools, is to expect a lot of detailed communication and often many iterations of the product to get the content to be represented in a scientifically accurate way. We hope to continue to integrate animations in the educational work of the PNWFN and cooperators.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Learning Outcomes
Project Outcomes
At least five grant proposals have been written, with more in development. New grower, research, conservation, and industry collaborations have been made. Soil test methods to improve nutrient recommendations have been discussed and pursued. Cropping system diversification has been discussed repeatedly. Efforts to unpack 'soil biology' in a data-driven way have continued to be made. A greater understanding of the needs of the agricultural community and the desire for more information on soil biology has been confirmed and built upon. The PNW Farmers' Network has also developed a podcast and training to expand mental models around 'On-Farm Trial' design and implementation as the region's ag community continues to innovate around soil biological stimulants and supplements, fertility management, crop diversification, and input reduction strategies.
We believe the efforts of our team to reinvigorate the presence of the PNW Farmers' Network(PNWFN) within the context of the Visualizing Microbial Agroecology project was essential to achieving project goals. The PNW Farmers' Network is a foundational component of the distribution mechanism for this project and the efforts in that direction are seen in the interest of 343 registrations for the Soil Health Coffee hours by ag professionals over the life of the project. The activities that have been organized as part of the PNW Farmers' Network re-establishment, align with the project goals and have been reported accordingly. The continued existence of the PNW Farmers' Network supports sustainability, co-innovation, adaptation, and resilience of the inland Northwest's agriculture. We will continue to work in this space.
In 2023 the PNWFN successfully relaunched in the digital space with a website, YouTube channel, X account, and a podcast, the website's focus is on hosting soil health focused content, and to collate related partner resources. The current mailing list for the WSU Farmers' Network is above 550 active email addresses (and growing) of people in the agricultural community of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana, who are interested in cropping systems diversification and innovation, and soil biology as part of the soil functioning as a vital living ecosystem. We will continue to accumulate tools and perspectives to offer robust resources, spaces, and aggregation of work being done in the space we serve. We continue to receive abundant, sincere, positive feedback on the work we are doing from diverse stakeholders in the agricultural community. At the conclusion of this project- the infrastructure, framework, and engagement with the PNWFN is commensurate, or exceeding the level of engagement with the WSUFN prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the departure of Dr. Tao.
The On-Farm Trials podcast under the umbrella of the PNW Farmers' Network work has also been a highly successful effort. With almost 4000 listens to the bi-weekly episodes since it debuted at the end of June 2023, and 263 average listenership per month, it has been experiencing growing interest and support among the varied sectors of the ag community. Listeners are predominantly, but not limited to, from the Northwest. The effort aims to elevate individual innovators around the region and has featured producers with reputations as innovators, including those at the end of their careers. The podcast has featured both male and female producers, across a varied age range, and representing varied agroecological classifications within the inland Northwest dryland production region. The podcast also showcases producer and researcher collaborations around on-farm trials, supports collaboration efforts, and increased visibility for these partners. Topics covered focus on cropping systems innovation and conservation agriculture, and in the conversation-style audio, growers share their thoughts and knowledge around innovation, the barriers to and need for innovation to adapt to changing conditions in the environment, economy and society, along with many other challenges and opportunities including farm succession, urban encroachment, herbicide resistance, conservation programs, balancing economic solvency with stewardship goals, and so much more comes through in these episodes. It is a valuable way to showcase producer voices and honor their knowledge alongside research data as we explore 'pluralistic ways of knowing' and how that philosophy can co-exist with reductionist western scientific approaches and tools. The effort also allows the providers of agricultural research and services to hear and be more responsive to producer needs. We appreciate the support for this work and recommend continued support for the grassroots community building efforts the PNWFN has been working towards, to engage the agricultural community in the co-production of knowledge, and accelerating innovation, steeped in collaboration, towards the goal of increasing the sustainability of the agroecosystems of the dryland Northwest.