Mission
Adoption of soil-carbon-enhancing practices by farmers and ranchers requires knowledge about soil carbon sequestering practices and associated agronomic and environmental benefits. However, current knowledge on carbon (C) farming is primarily based either on simulation modelling or on data from a limited number of well-replicated field experiments. To clearly translate these findings to soil management and conservation practices for enhancing soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration under diverse agroecosystems, large-scale on-farm data collected from croplands, grasslands and rangelands are needed. Furthermore, knowledge gaps exist on how projected climate extremes will impact SOC sequestration, crop productivity, agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and soil health.
To fill these critical knowledge gaps, the proposed project will measure rates of SOC sequestration from on-farm conditions using traditional and enhanced carbon-farming methods under croplands, grasslands, and rangelands of the conterminous U.S. On-farm evaluations provide direct evidence of the effect of management on SOC sequestration based on the complexity of crop, livestock, and forage systems deployed by farmers and ranchers.
Study sites under on-farm conditions will be selected for Major Land Resource Areas (MLRAs) in the conterminous U.S. Sites will be sampled on the basis of typical chrono-sequences and paired land uses for representative farms and ranches under traditional and innovative farming practices (e.g., cover crops, reduced/no-tillage, diversified crop rotations including legumes and perennials, improved and strategic grazing management, organic amendments) to assess changes in SOC stock, soil health/quality, and agronomic productivity. 
The project will establish a relationship between SOC stock and adaptation/mitigation of climate change as intervened by soil health, plant production, management practices, fertilization, and irrigation. Changes in agroecosystem SOC stocks with implementation of enhanced carbon farming practices will be projected across Land Resource Regions (LRRs) and MLRAs by refining, calibrating, and validating multi-ensemble process-based models based on data from these on-farm evaluations. The project will also test methods of assessment of SOC stock by portable hand-held devices and remote sensing techniques. It will explore the socio- economic factors and policies limiting the adoption of carbon-farming practices for both commercial and family farms. The project will assess how Extension and outreach activities can contribute to enhancing the adoption of SOC-sequestering practices by farmers and ranchers.
The project will generate much needed knowledge on how to strengthen the adoption of soil-carbon- enhancing practices by farmers and ranchers, and on how to increase the recognition of the importance of those practices by the private sector, policy makers and the general public.
The project will provide farmers, growers and land managers with the necessary information to make scientifically sound decisions based on the assessed benefits of implementing carbon farming practices and their associated environmental and economic advantages. It will serve as an example to the community of researchers for on-farm studies in other regions. The project will inform extension personnel, policymakers, stakeholders, private sector, non-governmental organizations, and the public through raising awareness on the importance of carbon farming practices for people and planet.
Specific Objectives
- ldentify representative farm sites (and targeting those having adopted innovative conservation approaches) informed by robust geospatial analysis.
- Quantify soil carbon stocks and other soil health properties from conservation chrono-sequences and paired land uses (conventional cropping, conservation cropping, grassland management, and woodlands) on similar soil types.
- Establish associations between soil carbon stock and soil health indicators relevant to a variety of ecosystem services, including plant production, water capture and storage in soil, water quality, GHG exchange, and soil microbial biodiversity. Soil health indicators will help identify major controls on soil carbon stocks as affected by conventional and enhanced carbon farming methods. These soil health indicators will be a combination of biological, chemical, and physical properties that are sensitive to tillage frequency and depth, fertilizer type and application rate, vegetation cover and diversity, and amount and quality of irrigation across a diversity of agroecosystems
- Extrapolate field-observed soil health indicators to continental US croplands using an ensemble of three biogeochemical models.
- Estimate the impact of projected climate extremes on soil carbon change, crop productivity, GHG emissions, and soil health indicators of continental U.S. croplands by 2100.
- Assess the suitability of portable hand-held devices and remote sensing technology (in cooperation with Microsoft) to monitor changes in soil carbon stocks for some sites in Ohio and Michigan.
- Assess the socio-economic, legal, and political factors limiting the adoption of carbon-farming practices on farms and ranches.
- Assess the role of Extension in identifying and partnering with farms sites for on-farm research, designing and implementing outreach activities for increasing the adoption of carbon farming practices; and evaluating adoption of BMPs.
- Cooperate with international organizations (e.g., Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture [IICA]), Fondo Regional De Technología Agropecuaria (FONTAGRO) and the Ministry of Primary Industries from the Government of New Zealand (MPI-NZ), European Union (EU)-based organizations and the private sector (e.g., Corteva, Microsoft) to develop opportunities for expanded adoption of soil carbon farming approaches to enhance soil carbon storage.
Goals and Outcomes
The project will generate much needed knowledge on how to strengthen the adoption of soil-carbon- enhancing practices by farmers and ranchers, and on how to increase the recognition of the importance of those practices by the private sector, policy makers and the general public.
Among the key accomplishments will be:
- Primary on-farm data on SOC stocks and soil health from conservation chrono-sequences and paired land uses.
- A list of enhanced soil carbon farming methods associated with increased input efficiency and productivity gains by SOC sequestration through improvement in soil health compiled for different ecoregions in the U.S. based on data from farmer’s fields.
- Soil health data for cropland of the conterminous U.S. summarized based on modeling, and the impact of future climate on SOC stock, crop productivity, GHG emissions and soil health projected.
- Information for farmers, land managers, extension personnel, policymakers, stakeholders, private sector, non-governmental organizations, and the public on the importance of carbon farming practices to mitigate climate change and quantify its associated co-benefits.
- Recommendations on some hand-held devices suitable for monitoring changes in soil carbons stocks.
- List of constraints to adoption of carbon-farming practices, and compilation of data for law and policy makers about the environmental and socioeconomic benefits of SOC sequestration coupled with guidance for advancing SOC sequestration.
- Interventions in soil and land-use management practices based on extension and outreach activities recommended for the adoption of enhanced carbon farming practices by farmers and ranchers.
- List of enhanced soil carbon farming methods for the U.S. augmented and strengthened by on-farm data from global agroecosystem regions based on international cooperation.
Thank you C-FARM Sponsors
In cooperation with: Utah Department of Agriculture & Food, Kansas State University, Michigan State University, Utah State University, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Sandia National Laboratories, the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Agricultural Research Institute of Uruguay.