This completed EPA-funded project evaluated how soil health management systems influence soil water dynamics, soil properties, and climate resilience in working agricultural fields across Minnesota and Wisconsin. Led in collaboration with Sand County Foundation and project partners, the study used paired on-farm comparisons between soil health and conventionally managed fields in priority watersheds of the Upper Mississippi River Basin. The project integrated real-time soil moisture and temperature sensors, remote sensing, soil health measurements, infiltration assessments, and farmer engagement to better understand how practices such as reduced tillage, cover crops, diversified rotations, perennial vegetation, and integrated livestock affect infiltration, water holding capacity, leaching potential, aggregate stability, and nutrient transport risk.
Findings from this project resulted in three peer-reviewed publications. Results showed that integrated soil health management improved several soil properties, including wet aggregate stability, microbial indicators, potentially mineralizable nitrogen, active carbon, and total nitrogen, with the strongest responses linked to combinations of reduced tillage, cover crops, and crop diversity. The project also evaluated soil water storage and hydraulic responses and found that soil health management can improve root-zone soil water storage, while water movement responses were influenced by management system, timing, and site conditions. Overall, this project provided field-based evidence and practical data to help farmers, conservation professionals, and agency partners better understand how soil health systems can support resilient agricultural production and improved water quality outcomes.
Study Period: 2021-2023
Research Team: Anuradha Garg, Vasudha Sharma, Anna Cates, Heidi Peterson, and Samual Kwakye
Funding: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Sand County Foundation