Project Overview
Commodities
Practices
Proposal abstract:
In recent years, vegetable farmers have approached Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) with a desire to research soil health. They want to better understand how their management practices affect soil quality and attendant economic, environmental, and social outcomes. For example, whether legume cover cropping may improve soil fertility and reduce the need for costly inputs and labor, or whether extending a forage rotation may achieve soil organic matter goals. During this project, farmer partners and PFI will research the soil health impacts of soil health management practices (cover cropping, reducing tillage, crop diversification and/or incorporating grazing) on five vegetable farms in Iowa and share results broadly across the SARE North Central region. Farmer partners will design and implement statistically rigorous research trials to inform practices on their farms and deepen scientific understanding of soil health dynamics on vegetable farms. Farmer partners will also share their research results with others at educational events and in written publications, expanding regional awareness of the role of soil health management practices in sustainable agriculture. In sum, our project puts farmers in the driver’s seat to creatively research soil health on their farms and gives them a platform to share their knowledge with their peers.
Project objectives from proposal:
Five vegetable farmer partners will complete statistically rigorous 2-year research trials assessing the impacts of soil health management practices on measurable soil health indicators.
PFI will publish five pieces: a combination of research reports, magazine articles and/or blog posts sharing the results of these on-farm trials.
PFI will host one field day in 2025 on a vegetable farm using multiple soil health management practices and two field days in 2026 on vegetable farms conducting soil health research.
PFI will host one session at our 2027 annual conference where farmer partners share the results and takeaways from their trials.