Interest in Soil Health Growing

Allen R. Williams, Ph.D.

I just returned from a two week tour of the Upper Midwest and am both amazed and encouraged at the rapidly growing interest in soil health. During those two weeks, I had the opportunity to speak at 12 different conferences and workshops scattered throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. Every one of those events featured sessions pertaining to soil health. That is in marked contrast to the average conference and workshop of just ten years ago, where you would be lucky to hear anyone talking about the soil, and especially soil health. If anything, the talk was all about what types of fertilizers to apply to achieve higher yields, not about how to build soil organic matter, improve soil biology, soil aggregation, and water infiltration rates.

At the Midwest Soil Health Summit, sponsored by the Sustainable Farming Association (SFA) and held in Alexandria, MN, Participants got to hear Gabe Brown talk about recent advancements on his farm near Bismarck, ND. Gabe has been able to build what is now double digit soil organic matter, going from less than 3% organic matter on his farmland less than 20 years ago to now 11%+ soil organic matter. As Gabe would say, “Just think of the ramifications of that…”.

In addition, the conference participants were able to hear a wonderful presentation on the value and necessity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in our soils by Dr. Wendy Taheri. Other speakers included John Mesko, Kent Solberg, Jerry Doan, Ian Cunningham, Dr. Michael Lehman, and Allen Williams. Every presenter talked extensively about the need to improve soil health and to incorporate farm and ranch management practices that allow the building of soil health.

What was most encouraging at the Midwest Soil Health Summit were the sheer numbers of questions posed by the audience. Excellent, thoughtful, insightful questions. Questions that make all of us think really hard and challenge our thought process. I like that. We all need to be challenged because it is challenge that allows us to move forward.

All of the other conferences and workshops were the same. At MOSES in LaCrosse, WI, there were more than 3000 farmers and ranchers in attendance. Once again, sessions ended with participants asking questions for more than 3 hours. At the MOSES Trade Show, there were numerous vendors representing soil health related products and services.

What is amazing is that just a few short years ago, we would have been hard pressed to assemble more than a dozen or so farmers and ranchers to hear presentations related to soil health. There simply was little to no interest. Now, there are routinely anywhere from several hundred to several thousand farmers and ranchers at conferences related to soil health topics. What is even more encouraging are the data that is being collected and reported and the progress being made by a growing number of farmers and ranchers.

As we are aware (or should be) our soils are the foundation of life. The better we treat our soils, the better our overall environment will be. Soils that are vibrantly alive are soils that are highly productive. Building high organic matter soils that are biologically active, results in significantly better water infiltration, reduced erosion, mitigation of the effects of drought and flood, better water quality and improved diversity. Ecosystems thrive where healthy soil exists.