Source: TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
ACTIONABLE LINKS BETWEEN SOIL FUNCTION, ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, AND STAKEHOLDER PERCEPTIONS TO OVERCOME BARRIERS TO IMPROVED SOIL MANAGEMENT
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1015491
Grant No.
2018-67019-27975
Cumulative Award Amt.
$496,000.00
Proposal No.
2017-05377
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Apr 15, 2018
Project End Date
Apr 14, 2023
Grant Year
2018
Program Code
[A1401]- Foundational Program: Soil Health
Recipient Organization
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
750 AGRONOMY RD STE 2701
COLLEGE STATION,TX 77843-0001
Performing Department
Soil & Crop Science
Non Technical Summary
Soil provides food and fiber in agricultural ecosystems and regulates the partitioning of rainfall between runoff or infiltration. Partitioning of rainfall by soil, is a critical but poorly understood process, which affects the soil ecosystem services in the field and throughout the watershed. Standard and new measures are needed to better quantify soil ecosystem services and novel terminology is needed to communicate soil ecosystem services to increase likelihood of adoption of soil function promoting practices.The overall goal of our team is to integrate soil science, hydrology, economics, and sociology to foster soil security by developing protocols for measures of soil processes, value soil ecosystem services, and develop communication strategies with stakeholders to incentivize improved soil management. The specific objectives include:1) develop on-site and off-site potential linking indicators associated with measures of changes in soil condition;2) identify and quantify the soil ecosystem services perceived by on-site soil managers and off-site stakeholders; and3) determine if and how linking indicators can successfully communicate and change the basis for soil management decisions.We will combine field measurement, modeling, and socio-economic analyses to achieve the objectives. Outcomes include: 1) a soil measurement and hydrology modeling approach that is sensitive to changes in soil condition 2) quantified on- and off-site soil ecosystem services that result from soil management; and 3) meaningful use of linking indicators to enhance dialogue between farmers, watershed stakeholders, and scientists and adoption of management strategies that secure our soil resource for future generations.
Animal Health Component
20%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
80%
Applied
20%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1010110206134%
1040199209033%
1120320308033%
Knowledge Area
112 - Watershed Protection and Management; 104 - Protect Soil from Harmful Effects of Natural Elements; 101 - Appraisal of Soil Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
0320 - Watersheds; 0110 - Soil; 0199 - Soil and land, general;

Field Of Science
2090 - Statistics, econometrics, and biometrics; 2061 - Pedology; 3080 - Sociology;
Goals / Objectives
This project fits into the long term goal of our research team: to provide world-class technical and socio-economic leadership to foster soil security by developing protocols for measures of soil processes, value soil ecosystem services, and develop communication strategies with stakeholders to incentivize improved soil management. The long-term goal of team leader, Cristine Morgan, is to integrate teaching and research into a scholarly program of inquiry that focuses on improving our ability to spatially and temporally quantify soil properties across watersheds, and on improving our understanding of water transport processes affected by the spatial and temporal variation of soil properties.The overall goal of this project will be accomplished through three objectives:Develop on-site and off-site potential linking indicators and soil measurements that are associated with changes in soil condition. Novel measurements techniques of soil and soil function that are highly likely to be valued by on- and off-site stakeholders will be conducted in the lower and middle Brazos River Basin. Some of these measures will stand alone and others will serve as model input. Together, measurements and model output will generate a suite of potential linking indicators for use in the study region.Identify and quantify the soil ecosystem services perceived by on-site soil managers and off-site stakeholders. In this project will empirically estimate the on- and off-site ecosystem services and estimate the monetary value of some of these services. On-site ecosystem services will be estimated using both farm-budget analysis and stated-choice methods. Off-site ecosystem services will be estimated and valued for at least two of the many off-site services provided by healthy soils.Identify how and if linking indicators can successfully communicate and change the basis for soil management decisions. Potential linking indicators will be selected for evaluation in interviews that include soil managers and off-site stakeholders. These interviews will inform a survey in which we evaluate soil conservation choices and evaluate how linking indicators affect perception of risk and trust.
Project Methods
This project will link technical and novel soil science measurements with hydrological function in SWAT. Additionally, we will develop an approach for SWAT that is sensitive to changes in soil function so that SWAT can be used to quantifying changes in soil ecosystem services (Objective 1 and 2). In Objectives 2 and 3 we address the socio-economic component adoption of agricultural practices that promote soil ecosystem services. Because we believe off-site stakeholders can be better informed, we focus on modelling and quantifying off-site value of soil ecosystem services (Objective 2). Lastly, decisions regarding soil conservation management have been based on social capital, risk, and trust. We evaluate how on- and off-site stakeholders view the risks and trust issues associated with adopting management practices that promote soil function.The component that joins all objectives is the concept of developing and using linking indicators for communicating between the science community, soil managers and stakeholders. For a soil condition indicator to qualify as a linking indicator, it must be linked to measurable changes in soil function that are affected by management and also be valued by stakeholders. Our overall approach will be to select and measure a suite of biophysical soil properties and develop and test potential linking indicators for use in the lower and middle Brazos River Basin. The linking indicators will be related to soil function. Then, potential linking indicators are further selected and honed using stakeholder meetings. Lastly a survey of 2,000 farmers is used to determine which of the linking indicators are relevant and linked to perceived value.The focus area for this project includes the middle and lower sections of the Brazos River Watershed in Texas, stretching from south of the Dallas-Fort Worth area to Houston, where the Brazos River discharges to the Gulf of Mexico. While the lower end of the watershed is densely populated, the middle and lower watershed is primarily row-crop agriculture or perennial grasses. The area is a good case for study because of the variation in management and soil type.OBJECTIVE #1.Our experimental design will focus on six soil types. Among these soils, we will focus on comparing three general management types, conventional till row-crop, no-till/strip-till row-crop, and perennial grass. At each site, we will record land management history and make selected biophysical measurements. These measurements include, saturated hydraulic conductivity, infiltration, aggregate stability and 3D scanning of A-horizon soil structure. Soil samples will be analyzed, in the lab for total and inorganic C content, soil respiration, bulk density, pH, particle size analysis, cation exchange capacity, and extractable bases.These measurements will be used to test multiple hypotheses (H) under Objective 1. H1.1 states linking indicators can be developed from biophyscial measurements of soil function and used to communicate agricultural management benefits that stakeholders value. Potential linkng indicators will be created using soil functions associated with mangement that are reported in the literature and our preliminary measurements of soil biophysical properties and function. H1.2 states that quantitative parameters, such as average structural unit size, will be consistent within a field within one soil and management. 3D scans of soil structure into quantitative parameters of soil structure that describe soil hydraulic function and be compared to land use and soil type. H1.3 states that description of soil structure improves simulations of infiltration and other water balance components in the SWAT model compared to using the traditional lookup table and curve numbers. To test H1.3, we will use the Soil and Water Assessment Tool single-HRU model as well as field observations of soil water infiltration and redistribution. OBJECTIVE #2: In this project will empirically estimate the on- and off-site ecosystem services and estimate the monetary value of these services. On-site ecosystem services will be estimated using farm budget analysis and stated-choice methods. Off-site services will be estimated and valued for at least two of many services provided by healthy soils. H2.1 states farmers value soil quality based on the improved financial performance that results. Provisioning value of soil function will be estimated using two methods. The first is a farm-budget approach using two sets of farmers. Secondly, we will send 2,000 surveys to farmers in the study area and, among other questions, they will be asked about their soil management practices and historical yields. H2.2 is that the perception of the value of changes in soil condition varies depending on how it is communicated and linking indicators that are easily understood will lead to higher value estimates, even if the measure is less precise. The attribute-based approach described above will also be used to evaluate linking indicators from among the potential indicators chosen for Objective 1.H2.3 states downstream stakeholders have multiple interests in soil ecosystem services, but there is little appreciation of the relationships between their interests and soil management. Two stakeholder meetings that include representatives from local governments; members of the Brazos River Authority; residents from the Brazos River watershed whose communities have experienced flooding; representatives from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and local producers will be help. During the meetings we will assess the extent to which there is a shared understanding of the role that soil plays in the watershed. H2.4 states there are socially and economically significant off-site ecosystem services provided by on-site improvements in soil management. We will estimate the magnitude of at least two off-site ecosystem services provided by on-site management that improves soil function. H2.5 states the environmental impact and economic value of off-site ecosystems services provided by on-site soil management are significant and exceed their on-site significance. Long-term model simulations of SWAT will be used to compare the value of on- and off-site ecosystem services by estimating how on-site management affects the downstream ecosystem services.OBJECTIVE #3: The approach for our third objective is based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. According to this model, individuals change their behavior because of beliefs; beliefs about the usefulness of making the change, perceptions that other persons or organizations want them to change their behavior, perceptions that they are capable of making the change, and finally their intention or willingness to change their behavior. Use of linking indicators can affect all of these beliefs. We will survey farmers in the study area to identify the underlying reasons behind the adoption of conservation practices. The sample of farmers to be surveyed will be stratified to oversample farmers currently using conservation tillage. We aim to have a non-proportionate sample of 200 adopters and 200 non-adopters. Therefore, we plan to send out questionnaires to 2,000 row-crop producers in the Brazos River Authority. We will follow the Dillman et al. (2014) method for mail-out questionnaires.In developing the survey instrument, two focus groups (one made up of adopters of practices that improve soil condition; the second, made up of non-adopters) will be recruited to ensure that the survey is clear and easily answered. The focus group discussion will also help establish which linking indicators are most preferred. We will follow standard focus group techniques which involve recruiting 10-12 members per group, hold the discussion with them for 2 hours, and three offer them a cash incentive for participating (see Morgan 1997). The survey instrument will gather information to test the five hypotheses of Objective 3.

Progress 04/15/18 to 04/14/23

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this work includes soil and social scientists globally working on Soil Security, approx. 90. farmers throughout the Brazos Valley (approx. 2000).Agencies and organizations including USDA NRCS, Soil Health Institute, Soil Health Partnership, and The Nature Conservancy. Changes/Problems:Data analysis was been impeded dramatically by the fact that data must be accessed only through the NORC Data Enclave. Furthermore, authorization for non-US Ph.D. students continued to delay but eventually got addressed. The Covid-19 pandemic had modest effects on our progress. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Graduate student training and participation in professional meetings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Publications, presentations, podcasts and outreach documents as indicated above. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Develop on-site and off-site potential linking indicators and soil measurements that are associated with changes in soil condition. The team used slakes and 3D scans to characterize management effects on soil structure in farm fields. Aggregate stability measured by smartphone and 3D scans of structure detected tillage differences across farm fields and it was observed that No-till shifted soil health of farmers' fields to be more like perennial fields. Organic Carbon to 10 cm showed significant differences between all tillage types. Identify and quantify the soil ecosystem services perceived by on-site soil managers and off-site stakeholders. The team successfully identified that no-tillage improves plant available water at a field scale during the crop growing season as compared to conventional tillage using simulations from Precision Agricultural Landscape Modeling System (PALMS), a robust process-based biophysical model. Additionally, based on the model outcomes it has also been identified that changes in soil structure due to change in soil management plays a key role in the simulation framework. This brings out a very critical information in terms of importance of soil structure and/or preferential flow in modeling changes in soil management and shows that when these parameters are neglected, inaccurate conclusions are drawn on the effect of soil management. Apart from the field scale study, the team has successfully developed a watershed scale model using the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model to inform the effect of changes in farm soil management at a downstream location. Results from the APEX model developed at the Brushy Creek watershed in Texas consisting of 35% row cropland suggest that a 25% reduction in runoff and a 57% reduction in sediment loss can be achieved if all cropland in a watershed is converted from conventional to no-tillage.Simulated average reduction in annual runoff and sediment loss with no-tillage management under projected future climate ranged between 27-33% and 55-59%, respectively, compared to conventional tillage management under historic climate. Using data from a survey of recreational anglers in Texas, we showed that anglers respond to changes in water quality that could be affected by changes in soil management on agricultural lands. This research is the manuscript by Black and Woodward (2021) which is being revised for submission in a journal. The research team carried out a series of interviews with downstream stakeholders (e.g., irrigation district managers) to understand how they perceived the role that upstream soil conservation plays on their activities. After many of these interviews, we were unable to discern any strong evidence that they had a strong understanding of the role that soil management might play in their activities. This suggests that an entirely separate study to understand this issue is required. Identify how and if linking indicators can successfully communicate and change the basis for soil management decisions. Using a dynamic optimization framework, we derived a quantitative method that explains why farmers adopt soil conservation tillage, bringing together a host of farmer's perceptions. The framework includes factors such as farmers perceptions of conservation tillage consequences on profit, yield, government payments, soil health characteristics, probability of retaining lease, soil stewardship and social interactions, and risk preferences. This framework was published in the journal Soil Security (Ogieriakhi and Woodward, 2022). In addition, we used the survey data to empirically estimate the effects of farmer's perceptions on their conservation tillage decisions. Analysis of the data identifies those perceptions that have the greatest effect on farmers' decisions to adopt conservation tillage. Finally, using data from the same survey, we are able to estimate farmers' willingness to pay for different soil health characteristics that could be improved through the adoption of conservation tillage. We find that while farmers are willing to pay for improvements in drainage, compaction, and organic matter, the value of drainage is the greatest.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bagnall, D.K. and C.L.S Morgan. In Review. Soil Structure and Health: SLAKES and 3D Scans Characterize Perennial, No-till, and Conventional-till Farm Fields. Soil and Till.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bagnall, D.K., E.J. Jones, S.N. Balke, C.L.S Morgan and A.B. McBratney. 2020. An in situ method for quantifying tillage effects on soil structure using multistripe laser triangulation. Geoderma.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bagnall, D.K., W.A. McIntosh, C.L.S. Morgan, R.T. Woodward, M. Cisneros, M. Black, E.M. Kiella and S. Ale. 2020. Common Ground: Insights from Farmers for Communicating Indicators of Soil Health in Texas. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Flynn, K.D., D.K. Bagnall and C.L.S Morgan. 2019. Evaluation of SLAKES, a smartphone application for quantifying aggregate stability, in high-clay soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. Accepted for publication.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Samanta, S., Ale, S., Bagnall, D. K., Morgan, C. L. S., Black, M., & Woodward, R. T. (2021) Evaluating Downstream Impacts of Changes in Farm Tillage Management on Runoff, and Sediment and Nutrient Losses in a Texas Blackland Prairie Watershed. In ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meetings (2021). ASA-CSSA-SSSA
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Samanta, S., Ale, S., Morgan, C. L. S., & Bagnall, D. K. (2021). Assessing watershed-scale impacts of adopting soil management practices on water conservation and sediment and nutrient loadings. In ASABE Annual International Meeting (2021).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Samanta, S., Himanshu, S.K., Chang, A., Zhang, T., Singh, J., Ale, S., DeLaune, P., Jung, J., Morgan, C. L. S., & Barnes, E. (2021). Evaluation of the impacts of tillage and winter cover crops on soil water availability and yield of cotton using UAV-acquired data. In ASABE Annual International Meeting (2021)
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Episode 1  Soil health measurements and indicators: an interview with Dianna Bagnall. https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/soil-security/about/podcasts
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Episode 2 - Reviewing farmers' adoption of soil conservation tillage: an interview with Macson Ogieriakhi. https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/soil-security/about/podcasts
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Samanta, S., Ale, S., Morgan, C. L. S., & Bagnall, D. K. (2022). Evaluating the potential of conservation tillage and cover crop practices in mitigating the negative effects of climate change on runoff and sediment losses. In ASABE Annual International Meeting (2022).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Samanta, S., Bawa, A., Singh, J., Mvuyekure, R.F.S., Ale, S., DeLaune, P., & Morgan, C. L. S. (2022). Evaluation of the effects of improved soil management practices on crop water stress in dryland cotton systems using Unpiloted Aerial Systems. In ASABE Annual International Meeting (2022).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Samanta, S., Ale, S., Bawa, A., Singh, J., Simbi Mvuyekure, R. F., DeLaune, P. B., Morgan, C. L. S., & Jain, S.�2022. Estimation of Soil Water Content Under Different Conservation Practices Using Supervised Machine Learning Algorithms on Images Collected Using Unpiloted Aerial System. In ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting (2022)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ale, S., Samanta, S., Singh, J., Himanshu, S.K., DeLaune, P.B., & Morgan, C.L.S. (2022). Simulated field- and watershed-scale effects of conservative practices in semi-arid rainfed crop production systems. International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges & Opportunities. Organized by ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad, India. December 22-24, 2022.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Samanta, Sayantan. Assessing ecosystem service benefits of improved soil management practices at the field and watershed scales. PhD Dissertation. Texas A&M University. 2023
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: Samanta, S., Ale, S., Morgan, C.L.S., Bagnall, D.K, & Woodward R.T. (2023). Assessing the watershed-scale effects of tillage management on surface runoff and sediment loss using a curve number-precipitation relationship based approach. Journal of Hydrology. Under Review
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: Samanta, S., Bagnall, D.K., Ale, S., Morgan, C.L.S., & Molling C.C. (2023). Modeling tillage effects on plant-available water by considering the changes in soil structure. Journal of the ASABE. Under Review.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Ogieriakhi, M., Woodward, R.T. (2023) The Effect of Farmers Perceptions on Adoption of Conservation Tillage. Presentation at the Annual Summer Conference of the Association of Environmental and Resource Econonomists. Portland, ME, May 29-31, 2023.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ogieriakhi, Macson, and Richard Woodward. "Understanding Why Farmers Adopt Soil Conservation Tillage: A Systematic Review."�Soil Security�(2022): 100077.


Progress 04/15/21 to 04/14/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this work includes Soil and social scientists globally working on Soil Security, approx 90. Farmers throughout the Brazos Valley (approx 2000) Agencies and organizations including USDA NRCS, Soil Health Institute, Soil Health Partnership, and The Nature Conservancy Changes/Problems:Data analysis has been impeded dramatically by the fact that data must be accessed only through the NORC Data Enclave. Furthermore, authorization for non-US Ph.D. students continued to delay but eventually got addressed belatedly. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Graduate student training and participation in professional meetings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Publications as indicated above. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The 2022-2023 period will be a critical period for the project during which more data analysis will be done using the survey to uncover more insights about farmer's decision-making regarding soil tillage decisions. We intend to incorporate the theory of planned behavior so that we can get a broader understanding of underlying motivations stimulating farmers decision making process. Moreover, the team will be evaluating the potential of no-tillage to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on runoff and sediment loss at a watershed scale. The CMIP6 climate projections will be used to simulate the conventional and no-tillage scenarios in APEX. Additionally, the team will also be assessing the effects of improved soil management practices on soil water content and identify the best conservation practices based on crop growth and water stress using the Unmanned Aerial Systems-based measurements. Field measurements and UAV flights have already been conducted at Chillicothe, TX and the team is ready to analyze the images.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Develop on-site and off-site potential linking indicators and soil measurements that are associated with changes in soil condition. The team used slakes and 3D scans to characterize management effects on soil structure in farm fields. Aggregate stability measured by smartphone and 3D scans of structure detected tillage differences across farm fields and it was observed that No-till shifted soil health of farmers' fields to be more like perennial fields. Organic Carbon to 10 cm showed significant differences between all tillage types Identify and quantify the soil ecosystem services perceived by on-site soil managers and off-site stakeholders. The team successfully identified that no-tillage improves plant available water at a field scale during the crop growing season as compared to conventional tillage using simulations from Precision Agricultural Landscape Modeling System (PALMS), a robust process-based biophysical model. Additionally, based on the model outcomes it has also been identified that changes in soil structure due to change in soil management plays a key role in the simulation framework. This brings out a very critical information in terms of importance of soil structure and/or preferential flow in modeling changes in soil management and shows that when these parameters are neglected, inaccurate conclusions are drawn on the effect of soil management. Apart from the field scale study, the team has successfully developed a watershed scale model using the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model to inform the effect of changes in farm soil management at a downstream location. Results from the APEX model developed at the Brushy Creek watershed in Texas consisting of 65% cropland suggest that a 9% reduction in runoff and a 10% reduction in sediment loss can be achieved if all cropland in a watershed is converted from conventional to no-tillage Identify how and if linking indicators can successfully communicate and change the basis for soil management decisions. Using a dynamic optimization framework, we derived a quantitative method that explains why farmers adopt soil conservation tillage , bringing together a host of farmer's perceptions. The framework includes factors such as farmers perceptions of conservation tillage consequences on profit, yield, government payments, soil health characteristics, probability of retaining lease, soil stewardship and social interactions, and risk preferences. In addition, we used the survey data to empirically estimate the effects of farmer's perceptions on their conservation tillage decisions. Preliminary estimates have shown that farmers perceptions about profit, yield, soil stewardship and social interactions are the most important factors.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bagnall, D. K., & Morgan, C. L. (2021). SLAKES and 3D Scans characterize management effects on soil structure in farm fields. Soil and Tillage Research, 208, 104893.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Samanta, S., Ale, S., Bagnall, D. K., Morgan, C. L. S., Black, M., & Woodward, R. T. (2021) Evaluating Downstream Impacts of Changes in Farm Tillage Management on Runoff, and Sediment and Nutrient Losses in a Texas Blackland Prairie Watershed. In ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meetings (2021). ASA-CSSA-SSSA.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Samanta, S., Ale, S., Morgan, C. L. S., & Bagnall, D. K. (2021). Assessing watershed-scale impacts of adopting soil management practices on water conservation and sediment and nutrient loadings. In ASABE Annual International Meeting (2021)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Samanta, S., Ale, S., Bagnall, D. K., Morgan, C. L. S., Black, M., & Woodward, R. T. (2021) Evaluating Downstream Impacts of Changes in Farm Tillage Management on Runoff, and Sediment and Nutrient Losses in a Texas Blackland Prairie Watershed. In ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meetings (2021). ASA-CSSA-SSSA
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Samanta, S., Himanshu, S.K., Chang, A., Zhang, T., Singh, J., Ale, S., DeLaune, P., Jung, J., Morgan, C. L. S., & Barnes, E. (2021). Evaluation of the impacts of tillage and winter cover crops on soil water availability and yield of cotton using UAV-acquired data. In ASABE Annual International Meeting (2021)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Samanta, S., Ale, S., Morgan, C. L. S., & Bagnall, D. K. (2021). Assessing watershed-scale impacts of adopting soil management practices on water conservation and sediment and nutrient loadings. In ASABE Annual International Meeting (2021).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Ogieriakhi, M., Woodward, R.T. (2021). Why do farmers adopt soil conservation tillage? A methodological framework and literature review. In Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Conference Meeting (2021).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Ogieriakhi, M., Woodward, R.T. (2021). Why do farmers adopt soil conservation tillage? A methodological framework and literature review. In Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) Annual Conference Meeting (2021).
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Your Farm, Your Soil Fact Sheet Description: This was an overview of surveyed farmers attributes such as characteristics of their operations, average acreage by crop, opinions on soil health, soil stewardship and tillage decisions. This report gives a brief snapshot of surveyed farmers in Central Texas.


Progress 04/15/20 to 04/14/21

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this work includes Soil and social scientists globally working on Soil Security, approx 90. Farmers throughout the Brazos Valley (approx 2000) Agencies and organizations including USDA NRCS, Soil Health Institute, Soil Health Partnership, and The Nature Conservancy Changes/Problems:The survey carried out by NASS was substantially slower than anticipated due to the slowness of the government review process. Data analysis has been impeded dramatically by the fact that data must be accessed only through the NORC Data Enclave. Furthermore, authorization for non-US Ph.D. students to access the data has yet to be approved after almost a year. Anticipated in-person interviews with downstream stakeholders were not possible due to COVID. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Graduate student training is a central component of this project. During the 2020-2021 year there were four Ph.D. students and one MS student involved in the project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The 2021-2022 period will be a critical period for the project during which data from the survey will be used to quantitatively analyse the value of soil health to farmers in the Brazos River Watershed and to assess the importance of linking indicators. Survey data will also be used to study the factors that are most important in motivating the adoption of soil conservation practices.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Develop on-site and off-site potential linking indicators and soil measurements that are associated with changes in soil condition. A farm-level model of the effect on conservation tillage has beendeveloped and calibrated. This model allows the prediction of how soil conservation practices affect water holding capacity and run-off. Identify and quantify the soil ecosystem services perceived by on-site soil managers and off-site stakeholders. Interviews were carried out with individuals from a range of management agencies who should have interest in and/or be affected by soil management. These interviews revealed a striking lack of understanding of and concern about the offsite consequences of soils management. Identify how and if linking indicators can successfully communicate and change the basis for soil management decisions. A survey of Texas farmers was carried out by USDA NASS. Data from this surevey will be used to identify those indicators that are most salient to farmers and to place a monetary value on aspects of soil health

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bagnall, D.K., E. J. Jones, S. Balke, C.L.S. Morgan, & A.B. McBratney, 2020. An In Situ Method for Quantifying Tillage Effects on Soil Structure Using Multistripe Laser Triangulation. Geoderma. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114642
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Bagnall, D.K., W.A. McIntosh, C.L.S. Morgan, R.T. Woodward, M. Cisneros, M. Black, E.M. Kiella, & S. Ale. 2020. Farmers insights on soil health indicators and adoption. Agrosyst Geosci Environ. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/agg2.20066
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Samanta, S., Ale, S., Morgan, C. L. S., Bagnall, D. K., Woodward, R. T., McIntosh, W. A., Howe, J. A., & Molling C. C. (2020). Modeling the effects of changes in soil management practices on plant available soil water. In ASABE Annual International Meeting (2020).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Samanta, S., Ale, S., Bagnall, D. K., Morgan, C. L. S., Molling C. C., Woodward, R. T., McIntosh, W. A., & Howe, J. A. (2020). The Role of Soil Structure in Modelling Soil Management: A Quantitative Impact Assessment. In ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Annual Meetings (2020). ASA-CSSA-SSSA.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Black, Michael A. and Richard T. Woodward. The value of short and long term changes in water quality Submitted to the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bagnall, D.K., & C.L.S. Morgan, 2021. SLAKES and 3D Scans characterize management effects on soil structure in farm fields. Soil and Tillage. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2020.104893


Progress 04/15/19 to 04/14/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Approximatly 14 farmers in the middle Brazos River Watershed have been interviewed. Soil and social scinetists globally working on Soil Security, approx 90. Farmers throughout the Brazos Valley (approx 2000) USDA NRCS, approxialtely 20. Soil Health Institute, Soil Health Partnership, and The Nature Conservancy Changes/Problems:We are working with NASS to implement a survey of farmers. Approval and implementation of the survey has taken much longer than anticipated. At this point it seems unlikely that the project will be entirely delayed, but this is definitely proving to slow the progress of graduate students involved in the project. At this point it is difficult to know if ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic will have any consequences for the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Graduate student training is a central component of this project. There are currently two post-docs involved in the project (neither currently with funding) and four Ph.D. students on the project (2 with project funding). During 2019 an additional PhD student and one undergraduate student also participated in the project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Online publications through the Texas A&M Real Estate Center have reached hundreds of stakeholders. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?As noted above, ongoing survey work and interviews are ongoing. Modelling of offsite water quality will also advance substantially during the next reporting period.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Develop on-site and off-site potential linking indicators and soil measurements that are associated with changes in soil condition. indicators in farmer's fields. The effects of management were detected in changes to soil structure, aggregate stability, water infiltration and soil organic matter. The team has pioneered use of novel soil structure scanning methods and tested a newly available smartphone application that measures aggregate stability. The potential linking indicators were confirmed to be important to farmers in focus groups studies (Objective 3) and will be tested quantitatively in a farmer survey this year. Additionally, these on-farm measurements are now informing model simulations for evaluating ecosystem service benefits both on- and off-farm. Specifically, our engineering team has successfully simulated the effects of observed changes in soil structure due to no-till with the PALMS model and shown promising preliminary results which indicate an increase in water for crops (on-farm) and a reduction in runoff and erosion (off-farm). The team has documented their findings in one dissertation, one accepted peer-reviewed journal article, three journal articles submitted for review, 9 presentations, and one popular press article. The popular press article, To Till or Not to Till, has been featured in on numerous agricultural blogs and news outlets including: Lamesa Press Reporter, AgFax, AgriLife Today, North Texas e-News, No-Till Farmer and The Comanche Chief) Identify and quantify the soil ecosystem services perceived by on-site soil managers and off-site stakeholders. Two data-gathering efforts are underway to accomplish this goal. First, a survey instrument has been developed for farmers. Prelminary data have been gathered through an online version and NASS will be implementing a large scale randomized survey of farmers in the Brazos River Watershed. Second, we are in the process of interviewsing downstream stakeholders to understand their perceptions of the benefits of soil conservation upstream. Identify how and if linking indicators can successfully communicate and change the basis for soil management decisions. Data from the survey and the stakeholder interviews will be used to accomplish this objective.

Publications

  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Kiella, Erin M. and Dianna K. Bagnall, To Till or Not to Till. (Dec 10, 2019) https://www.recenter.tamu.edu/articles/tierra-grande/ToTillorNottoTill-2256
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: "To Till or Not to Till Study examines producers' decisions on soil health practices" https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/2019/12/29/to-till-or-not-to-till/
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Dobberstein, John "The Tools for Profitable Farming are Already Here" Posted on in Soil Health. https://www.no-tillfarmer.com/blogs/1-covering-no-till/post/9406-the-tools-for-profitable-farming-are-already-here
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bagnall, D.K., C.L.S. Morgan, R.T. Woodward and W.A. McIntosh. 2019. Approach to valuing soil ecosystem services with linking indicators. p. 19-26. In A.C. Richer-de-Forges et al. (ed.) Global soil security: towards more science-society interfaces. Taylor and Francis Group, London, England.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Morgan, CLS, DK Bagnall, R Woodward, S Ale. A Soil Security Research Framework that Develops Actionable Links between Soil Managers and Stakeholders.SSSA International Soils Meeting, 2019
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bagnall, DK, CLS Morgan, RT Woodward, WA McIntosh. Approach to valuing soil ecosystem services with linking indicators. in Richer-de-Forges et al. Global Soil Security: Towards More Science-Society Interfaces - 2019
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bagnall, Dianna. Indicators to Communicate Links Between No-Till and Soil Functions in the Middle and Lower Brazos River Watershed. PhD Dissertation. Texas A&M University. 2019
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2020 Citation: Flynn, K.D., D.K. Bagnall and C.L.S Morgan. 2019. Evaluation of SLAKES, a smartphone application for quantifying aggregate stability, in high-clay soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. Accepted for publication.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bagnall, D.K., E.J. Jones, S.N. Balke, C.L.S Morgan and A.B. McBratney. In Review. An in situ method for quantifying tillage effects on soil structure using multistripe laser triangulation. Geoderma.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bagnall, D.K., W.A. McIntosh, C.L.S. Morgan, R.T. Woodward, M. Cisneros, M. Black, E.M. Kiella and S. Ale. In Review. Common Ground: Insights from Farmers for Communicating Indicators of Soil Health in Texas. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bagnall, Dianna K, William Alex McIntosh, Cristine LS Morgan, Michael Black, Marissa Cisneros, Richard T Woodward, Erin Kiella "Common Ground: Developing Meaningful, Measurable, Indicators of Soil Health" ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Annual Meetings (2019)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Morgan, Cristine LS, Dianna K Bagnall, Sayantan Samanta, Richard T Woodward, William Alex McIntosh, Srinivasulu Ale, Julie A Howe. Linking Soil Structure to Adoption of Soil Health Promoting Practices in Vertisols. ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Annual Meetings (2019)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Samanta, Sayantan, Srinivasulu Ale, Cristine LS Morgan, Dianna K Bagnall, Richard T Woodward, William Alex McIntosh, Julie A Howe. Simulated Impacts of Soil Management Practices on Plant Available Soil Water. ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Annual Meetings (2019)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bagnall, D.K. and C.L.S Morgan. In Review. Soil Structure and Health: SLAKES and 3D Scans Characterize Perennial, No-till, and Conventional-till Farm Fields. Soil and Till.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bagnall, D.K., C.L.S. Morgan, R.T. Woodward, Wm. A. McIntosh, S. Ale, M. Black, S. Samanta. 2019. Investigating Soil Health and Stakeholder Motivations in the Texas Blackland Prairies. Soil Health Institute Annual Meeting. Poster
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bagnall, D.K., C.L.S. Morgan, E. Jones, A.B. McBratney, S.N. Vaughan. 2019. 3-D Scans Soil Structure Scans Show Effect of Management. Pedometrics Meeting. Oral
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Bagnall, D.K., C.L.S. Morgan, E. Jones, A.B. McBratney, S.N. Vaughan. 2019. 3-D Scans Soil Structure Scans Show Effect of Management. Soil Science Society of America Annual Meeting, Soil Physics Division. Oral
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Bagnall, D.K., C.L.S. Morgan, R.T. Woodward, W.A. McIntosh and M. Black. 2018. Soil Security Investigation in the Brazos River Watershed of Texas, USA. Soil Security Symposium. Oral
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Bagnall, D.K., C.L.S. Morgan, R.T. Woodward, W.A. McIntosh and M. Black. 2017. Translating Soil Physical Measures to Estimate On-Farm and Off-Farm Benefits: Linking Indicators. Soil Science Society of America Annual Meeting, Soil Physics Division. Oral


Progress 04/15/18 to 04/14/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Approximatly 14 farmers in the middle Brazos River Watershed have been interviewed. Soil and social scinetists globally working on Soil Security, approx 90. USDA NRCS, approxialtely 20. Soil Health Institute, Soil Health Partnership, and The Nature Conservancy Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?1. One PhD student was a research fellow to University of Sydney for the summer. 2. Though not all 100% funded by the project we are now training 5 phD students in Soil Security How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our project is on-time regarding the time line we will continue to follow the timeline and workplan of the project.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The research team has made significant progress toward accomplishing the project's goals. A survey instrument has been developed that will help identify linking indicators and soil measurements that are associated with changes in soil condition and how farmers make decisions to adopt or not adopt soil conservation practices. Outreach to downstream stakeholders to understand how they are affected by soil conservation will commence it the fall of 2019.

Publications