By Pipa Elias, Soil Health Program Manager, The Nature Conservancy and Dr. LaKisha Odom, Scientific Program Manager, Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research
By adopting practices like planting winter cover crops and reducing—or better yet eliminating—tillage practices, farmers can significantly improve productivity of their fields, reduce soil erosion and improve water quality.
But how do we know if the adoption rate of these soil health practices, specifically cover crops and conservation tillage, is increasing? Before we can answer that question, we need to understand how many acres are currently managed with these practices (baseline data) and we need the ability to track progress over time.
COVER CROPS Multiple cover crop and pasture plant species are improving soil health and overall production capacity. © Ron Nichols, USDA-NRCS
Technology is Key
New Hampshire-based Applied GeoSolutions(AGS) has developed the Operational Tillage Information System (OpTIS), a GIS tool that uses data from several earth-observing satellites to map and monitor cover crop development and detect plant residue left on cropland to determine the tillage activities. AGS and the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) conducted a successful pilot project to test the capability of OpTIS to map tillage practices and cover crops from 2006 to 2015 in Indiana.
Multiple investors recognize how this technology will advance soil health. In fact, Bayer Crop Science, DuPont Pioneer, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Monsanto, Mosaic, J.R. Simplot Company, Syngenta, the Walmart Foundation and The Nature Conservancy have matched a $500,000 grant from FFAR to support expanding the application of the OpTIS technology. This FFAR grant, in addition to support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is making it possible for AGS, CTIC, the Conservancy and other partners to apply the OpTIS technology across the Midwest and ultimately throughout the country.
Not only are the partners mapping soil health practice trends, but they are using a computer simulation model to determine the environmental impacts of cover crops and reduced tillage practices. The DeNitrification-DeComposition Model (DNDC) measures benefits such as nitrate loss, soil organic carbon and water-holding capacity.
It is important to note that OpTIS calculations are made using publicly available data and reported at watershed scales to ensure the privacy of individual growers is fully protected.
COVER CROP RESIDUES Soybeans emerge through a mat of diverse cover crop plant residues, reducing evaporation, lowering soil temperatures and protecting soil from erosion. © Ron Nichols, USDA-NRCS
The better we—goverments, academia, conservation organizations and businesses—understand the trends in adoption rates of these practices, the better we can focus resources and tools that will help farmers secure their future while benefiting communities.
For instance, OpTIS can help
- Soil and water conservation districts establish priorities and to evaluate progress in achieving county or statewide goals.
- Stakeholders throughout the agri-food system supply chain better understand market trends in the adoption of cover crops and specific tillage systems.
- Efforts to improve soil health and water quality.
- Regional and national agricultural offices evaluate and compare the effectiveness of conservation programs across large regions. These groups can use this information to identify areas with low rates of conservation technology adoption and target these areas for future support.
- Academic researchers use spatial information on conservation practices for modeling water quality and the carbon cycle.
Knowledge is power and OpTIS will help to empower a wide range of stakeholders with vital data to help improve farmers’ productivity and safeguard our water and lands.