Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period we engaged with the following audiences: • Research scientist focused on sustainable agriculture and soil carbon sequestration • Agricultural and soil science students Changes/Problems:None to report. The NCE provided has allowed us to finish analyzing this major data set and give the the researchers and graduate students time to synthesize and produce impactful mansucripts. As mentioned in previous progress reports, supplies for this research far exceeded expectations in part due to inflation, sourcing and underestimation of soil health analysis costs. However, overall budgets are fine. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The undergraudate andgraduate students participating in the grant have been trained on the NRCS recommended soil health parameters, which has included collaborations with different labs and experiencing new techniques and a more fundamental understanding of soil processes. These students have presented their research in November of 2024at the national ASA-SSA-CSA meetings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results were disemmenated at the ASA-SSSA-CSA Meetings. See abstract below. Teasley, F., Woodley, A., Heitman, J. L., Ricker, M. C., Kulesza, S. B., & Suchoff, D.(2024) Why Do Soil Health Indicators Vary in Response to Management Practices? [Abstract]. ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX. https://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2024am/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/158554 What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We are holding a half-day soil carbon sequestration workshop at the Organic Commodities and Livestock Conference (OCLC) on March 4th to discuss findings from these experimentsl. This also includes partcipation from RAFI for project evaluation and farmer feedback. We will present this work at the organic field day in the summer of 2025 Manuscripts will be submitted and the graduate student affiliated with this project on target to graduate summer 2025 Researchers will dissemenate at regional and national meetings and extension worksheets will developed in Q2 of 2025.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This region of the Southeast has low soil carbon and soil health parameters due to hot humid conditions and coarse textured soils. Despite these challenges soils of the same type found under forested conditions show significantly higher soil carbon content suggesting that improvements are possible. Organic management often relies on greater carbon inputs (manure, cover crops etc.) that conventional farming, which may result in accrual of soil health benefits over time. However, these changes often take years to become detectable in the soils and producers are interested in more immediate soil health benefits. The focus of this research is two pronged. The first goal is determine the innate potential that organic management has on the improving soil health and soil carbon over time. A chronosequence will be used to measure organic farms that have transitioned over a range of times (1-yr, 5-yr 15-yr etc) to determine the rate of soil health improvements with typical organic management. The second goal is to evaluate various carbon input strategies during the transition phase to organic, such as using cover crops, biochar or composts or in combination. At the end of the transition we will measure the soils for carbon and soil health parameters and compare them to the chronosequence to determine if we can more rapidly improve soil health outcomes for the immediate benefit of farmers considering to transition to organic management. We have completed the chrono sequence portion of the study where we evaluated organic farms in transition ranging from 1-15 years to examine the accrual rate of soil carbon and soil health on high disturbance, low carbon soils found in the coastal plain of the south east. A major finding fromthe chrono sequence carbon accrual can occur in these soils in forested systems that have been out of agriculture for 40-50 years. This establishes that climatic conditions are not the only cause of the low organic C in coastal plains soils rather it is agricultural activities. Importantly, the act of organic farming does not increase soil carbon over time. The farms we sampled were only constrained by soil type and it being row crop farming. Allowing for variation in farmer decision making within the bounds of organic certification. Within those bounds even with sustainability requirements we did not see evidence of carbon accrual. In contrast the carbon additions and cover cropping from the research station plot experiments showed increases in soil carbon above the surrounding regions conventional and organic farms sampled. This importantly highlights that there needs to intentional strategies for carbon building within organic management in this region if the farmers are to realize carbon build up goals. We have completed all field activities, soil health analysis and lab activities for the 2nd goal with the carbon additions from the research station experiments. Notable findings include that appears to be additionality when combining cover cropping with carbon amendments in when it comes to carbon concentrations in the soil. Specifically, the carbon derived from the cover crops is more protected when in the presence of a stable carbons source (ie biochar, compost). The is more biological soil health activity when compost is added compared to biochar. In the 3-years after addition of C there does not appear to be an immediate decline in carbon levels over that time period, suggesting some mid-term level of stability. Despite matching soil types subtle differences in the research station sites caused one site to more rapidly process cover crop residue. This had in-season implications on nitrogen status during the growing season and important insight on cover crop management and expectations despite seemingly similar fields. Yields were differentially impacts by cover crops and amendments. In some years, cover crops caused a decline in yields. This was not due to poor emergence as the sites are heavily tilled but due to increased weed pressure from the increased available nitrogen in the legume cover crop treatments. When cover crops were co-applied with biochar, we did not observe this yield decline due to what appears to be a temporarily immobilization of N during that critical weed free period in crop growth showing again a level of synergy when stacking practices. We are now in the process of finalizing data synthesis and several manuscripts based of the chrono sequence work and the research station plot experiments. Lastly, a new faculty member Mallory Choudior was sucessful in a New InvestigatorUSDA-NIFA grant focused on continuing the research station plot experiments in a study titled "Cultivating Resilience: Evaluating Organic Amendments for Optimizing Soil Microbiome Functions". This will leverage this study by evaluating the impact of these trials in the mid-term (3-5years) on the soil microbiome, greatly increasing knowledge that this grant established for growers.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period we engaged with the following audiences: • Organic farmers whose land was sampled for the soil health soil carbon sequestration accural portion of the study • Research scientist focused on sustainable agriculture and soil carbon sequestration • Agricultural and soil science students, including a seminar presnetation and poster presentation by graduate students associated with the project Changes/Problems:A PhD student has switched theirprogram after 2-years to an MR degree. This has left some of the data interpretation to fall onto the PIs. However this will not impact the completness of the objectives and goals, but represents a delay in processing some of the analysis.Overall project is on track and no fundamental issues to report. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The graduate students participating in the grant have been trained on the NRCS recommended soil health parameters, which has included collaborations with different labs and experiencing new techniques and a more fundamental understanding of soil processes. In addition, one new PhD student has been trained on UAV and thermal sensor technology for deeper interpretation of the research station study. These students havepresented their research at regional meetings and in November of 2023 will present findings at the national ASA-SSA-CSA meetings. The ORG-OREI meeting in Washington allowed for a networking oppertunity for PI-Woodley with a likley outcome being furture collaboratios and grant writing with organic researchers within the U.S. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This research is a central focus of two lectures in SSC 427 a undergraduate sustainable soils course taught by Alex Woodley. In addition, one PhD student presented their research at departmental seminar. The 2nd graduate student presented a poster on the carbon potential of these soils and a state level soil science conference. PI-Woodley presented preliminary findings at the ORG-OREI PI meetings in spring 2023 in Washington DC. After year 3 of the tranistion study is completed will present this research at field days, regional and national meetings. In addition at the end of year 3 we will be hosting a soil carbon building workshop. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The next period is for the completion of the study. This includes final harvest of the 3-year transition study, subsequent deep core soils sampling and analysis for soil health and soil carbon parameters. The chrono-sequence samples will be finished analyzing for soil health parameters and a chrono-sequence accrual rate will be determined based on time under organic management. This will include interpretation of how close if at all organic management can increase these parameters towards undisturbed forested systems. The results for the rapid health transition study will be compared to the chrono-sequence to evaluate potential to quickly elevate soil health outcomes. We will hold a half-day soil carbon sequestration workshop after the half-day state organic field day to disseminate results from to the growers. The research will be disseminated at national meetings, extension fact sheets and journal articles.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This region of the Southeast has low soil carbon and soil health parameters due to hot humid conditions and coarse textured soils. Despite these challenges soils of the same type found under forested conditions show significantly higher soil carbon content suggesting that improvements are possible. Organic management often relies on greater carbon inputs (manure, cover crops etc.) that conventional farming, which may result in accrual of soil health benefits over time. However, these changes often take years to become detectable in the soils and producers are interested in more immediate soil health benefits. The focus of this research is two pronged. The first goal is determine the innate potential that organic management has on the improving soil health and soil carbon over time. A chronosequence will be used to measure organic farms that have transitioned over a range of times (1-yr, 5-yr 15-yr etc) to determine the rate of soil health improvements with typical organic management. The second goal is to evaluate various carbon input strategies during the transition phase to organic, such as using cover crops, biochar or composts or in combination. At the end of the transition we will measure the soils for carbon and soil health parameters and compare them to the chronosequence to determine if we can more rapidly improve soil health outcomes for the immediate benefit of farmers considering to transition to organic management. In the last few years prices of fertilizer has been volatileand improving soil health and incorporating cover crops and subsequently potentially reducing inputs will be of increased interests to not only organic farmers but conventional growers as well. In the third year of this study (2022-2023) the group is in the final year of the 3-year transition study at two research stations in the coastal plains of North Carolina both on the Norfolk Sandy Loam. This is the same soil type that will be sampled on-farm from organically managed lands. In year 3, surface soil samples were collected for yearly changes in soil carbon and soil health. A crimson clover cover crop was grown in fall of 2022 and terminated into a sweet potato "Covington" crop in spring of 2023. In the spring carbon inputs (biochar and compost) were applied to the site. Data from this second field season is partially analyzed. However, in year 1 and 2 in corn and soybean phase there appears to a be a limited response to these various carbon inputs from a yield perspective.However, the cereal rye cover crop that was terminated in spring 2022, showed increase biomass in the presence of biochar or composts compared to the control at one of the two sites. During the reporting period we analyzed surface (0-15cm) soils for total carbon. We found the cover crops, biochar and composts all increased soil carbon compared to the control. The two carbon sources (biochar and compost) were not significantly different from one another in their ability to raise carbon levels. Interestingly, it appears that the presence of a carbon amendment increases the carbon signal from the cover crop. Suggesting some protective properties of having a carbon rich amendment present in an inherently low carbon soil. In addition, we have collected all the chrono sequence soil from farms ranging in transition to organic from 1 year to 15 years. Much of the soil analysis is ongoing. When comparing 40-50-year forested systems to arable land on the same soil type we preliminary data shows greater bulk density, higher pH, lower EC, lower carbon (43%) in cultivated fields compared to forested sites. This confirming our belief that despite the relatively low soil carbon content in this region there is still opportunity to improve carbon stocks through strategic soil management. For the specific objectives stated above the following as been accomplished. Sampling and analysis of soil carbon completed. Complementary soil health parameter analysis on-going. Preparation for manuscript in early 2024. Collection complete, analysis on going, with soil carbon analysis completed and interpretation on-going Planting of year 3 sweet potato completed, fields are well maintained and yields look promising. After harvest the intensive 1m soil sampling will occur.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Amhed, T., J. Heitman, A.L. Woodley and M. Ricker. 2023.Quantifying Soil Carbon Stocks and Soil Health Metrics in the Southeastern Coastal Plain. Soil Science Society of North Carolina. Annual Meetings, Raleigh NC.
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Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period we engaged with the following audiences: • Organic farmers both in the region of study • Research scientist focused on sustainable agriculture and soil carbon sequestration • Agricultural and soil science students Changes/Problems:In the previous reporting period it was mentioned that we have a PhD student leave shortly after arriving due to personal reasons. We were only able to fill that position in July 2022. The current PhD student has been deeply engaged in the research but we have the 2021 soil samples still be analyzed so we are backlogged on processing due to the delay. We have hired undergrad assistants for the winter of 2023 to help support the processing and plan to be caught up by the time the field season starts. Some soil health capacity was lost with a faculty member leaving whose equipment we were planning on using, this has required PI Woodley's lab to purchases lab equipment to accomplish these soil health tests and has increased supplies cost more than expected but we still remain within the overall grant budget but may need to re-distribute funds. Overall project is on track and no fundemental issues to report. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The graduate students participating in the grant have been trained onthe NRCS recommended soil health parameters, which has included collaborations with different labs and experiencing new techniques and a more fundamental understanding of soil processes. In addition, one new PhD student has been trained on UAV and thermal sensor technology for deeper interpretation of the research station study. In the following year these students will present their research at regional and national meetings, but currently are still generating presentable data. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This research is a central focus of two lectures in SSC 427 a undergraduate sustainable soils course taught by Alex Woodley. After year 3 of the tranistion study is completed will present this research at field days, regional and national meetings. In addition at the end of year 3 we will be hosting a soil carbon building workshop. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have all of the baseline conventional and forested sites soils collected and processed. We have also collected all of the chronosequence soils from organic farms across the coastal plain. The goal now is it analyze all this soils for total carbon and soil health parameters in the lab. The PhD student associated with this portion of the grant has finished most of their coursework and is focused solely on getting this accomplished. For the research station transition study we are entering our 3rd year of the study, where we will again measure cover crop biomass in the spring and plant the cash crop. We will take spring and mid-season soil samples and at the end of the season we will take deep core soil samples which align with the chronosequences data to be able to make an assessment on how far these soils have "improved" compared to established organic plots.In addition, soil health and soil carbon parameters will be analyzed from year 1 and year 2.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This region of the Southeast has low soil carbon and soil health parameters due to hot humid conditions and coarse textured soils. Despite these challenges soils of the same type found under forested conditions show significantly higher soil carbon content suggesting that improvements are possible. Organic management often relies on greater carbon inputs (manure, cover crops etc.) that conventional farming, which may result in accrual of soil health benefits over time. However, these changes often take years to become detectable in the soils and producers are interested in more immediate soil health benefits. The focus of this research is two pronged. The first goal is determine the innate potential that organic management has on the improving soil health and soil carbon over time. A chronosequence will be used to measure organic farms that have transitioned over a range of times (1-yr, 5-yr 15-yr etc) to determine the rate of soil health improvements with typical organic management. The second goal is to evaluate various carbon input strategies during the transition phase to organic, such as using cover crops, biochar or composts or in combination. At the end of the transition we will measure the soils for carbon and soil health parameters and compare them to the chronosequence to determine if we can more rapidly improve soil health outcomes for the immediate benefit of farmers considering to transition to organic management. In the last year prices of fertilizer inputs of increased dramatically and improving soil health and incorporating cover crops and subsequently potentially reducing inputs will be of increased interests to not only organic farmers but conventional growers as well. In the second year of this study (2021-2022)the group continued the 3-year transition study at two research stations in the coastal plains of North Carolina both on the Norfolk Sandy Loam. This is the same soil type that will be sampled on-farm from organically managed lands. In year 2, surface soil samples were collected for yearly changes in soil carbon and soil health. A cereal rye cover crop was grown in fall of 2021 and terminated into a soybean crop in spring of 2022. In the spring carbon inputs (biochar and compost) were applied to the sitemuch of the data from this second field season is still being analyzed and currently we cannot make any definitive statements on the efficacy of these various organic transition strategies. However, in year 1 in corn there appears to a be a limited response to these various carbon inputs. In addition, we have collected all the chronosequence soil from farms ranging in trasnsition to organic from 1 year to 15 years.. Much of the soil analysis is ongoing. Preliminary data shows that there is a significant difference between soil carbon content in forested systems compared to conventional farmed soils, confirming our belief that despite the relatively low soil carbon content in this region there is still opportunity to improve carbon stocks through strategic soil management. Of the specific objectives stated above we have accomplished the following: 1.)Establish baselines of mean soil C stocks for conventional agricultural fields and mature secondary growth forest stands on the Atlantic Coastal Plain All field collection is complete, soil processing is complete and total carbon and nitrogen analysis is ongoing, including soil health parameters. 2)Evaluate the long-term effects of organic agriculture (>15 years) on soil C and related soil health metrics using Chronosequence methods. All field collection is complete, soil processing is ongoing and soil analysis will begin in January of 2023. 3)Evaluate carbon (composts, bio char, cover crop biomass) input strategies during a 3-year transition period in a high disturbance crop rotation on soil organic carbon, soil health indicators and crop yields. Year 2 was successfully conducted with representative yields of both soybean and the cover crop cereal rye grown at the two research stations. Crop quality and yield are being assessed. Soil samples were taken consistent with year 1. Surface soil health analysis is to be conducted the January-April. Fall cover crops (crimson clover) were successful planted in fall of 2022 for the next season's crop.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period we engaged with the following audiences: Organic farmers both in the region of study Research scientist focused on sustainable agriculture and soil carbon sequestration Agricultural and soil science students Changes/Problems: One of the PhD students that started on this project had to leave after only being on for 2 months due to unforeseen circumstances not related to this research, the graduate program or the department. The position has yet to be filled but we are hoping to have a student in the position in the early spring 2022. The cost of the biochar exceeded what was originally budgeted and we will need to adjust the budget to account for the unanticipated expense What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? We trained 3 undergraduate summer students on experimental design, field soil sampling and lab soil health analysis One graduate student has been trained on deep-core soil sampling and lab soil analysis One graduate student was trained on UAV and image capture for further interpretation of the research station study results A Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) student was mentored by Alex Woodley and a PhD student on basic field research using this field experiment as part of the experience How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Presented the transitionstudy at the North Carolina State University Organic Field Day August 2021 - 75 people Presented work from this project at a researcher and farmer focused Webinar titled "Farming for Ecological Outcomes" - 60 people This research is a central focus of two lectures in SSC 427 a undergraduate sustainable soils course taught by Alex Woodley What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Continue the transition study, which will be in soybeans summer of 2022. Including cover crop termination and biomass sampling Carbon input application Soil Sampling Soybean Harvest and Yield/Quality Determination Begin the on-farm organic field sampling starting in winter of 2022 to develop the chronosequence as stated in the accomplishment section Continue to present and field days and incorporate data into the SSC 427 course
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This region of the Southeast has low soil carbon and soil health parameters due to hot humid conditions and coarse textured soils. Despite these challenges soils of the same type found under forested conditions show significantly higher soil carbon content suggesting that improvements are possible. Organic management often relies on greater carbon inputs (manure, cover crops etc.) that conventional farming, which may result in accrual of soil health benefits over time. However, these changes often take years to become detectable in the soils and producers are interested in more immediate soil health benefits. The focus of this research is two pronged. The first goal is determine the innate potential that organic management has on the improving soil health and soil carbon over time. A chronosequence will be used to measure organic farms that have transitioned over a range of times (1-yr, 5-yr 15-yr etc) to determine the rate of soil health improvements with typical organic management. The second goal is to evaluate various carbon input strategies during the transition phase to organic, such as using cover crops, biochar or composts or in combination. At the end of the transition we will measure the soils for carbon and soil health parameters and compare them to the chronosequence to determine if we can more rapidly improve soil health outcomes for the immediate benefit of farmers considering to transition to organic management. In the last year prices of fertilizer inputs of increased dramatically and improving soil health and incorporating cover crops and subsequently potentially reducing inputs will be of increased interests to not only organic farmers but conventional growers as well. In the first year of this study the group has established the 3-year transition study at two research stations in the coastal plains of North Carolina both on the Norfolk Sandy Loam. This is the same soil type that will be sampled on-farm from organically managed lands. Study initiation included background deep soil sampling for baseline carbon stocks and planting of cover crops in fall of 2020. In the spring carbon inputs (biochar and compost) were applied to the site and corn planted. Soils were also sampled during the growing year and at harvest. Much of the data from this first field season is still being analyzed and currently we cannot make any generalized statements on the efficacy of these various organic transition strategies. In addition, we have collected baseline soil samples from secondary regrowth forests and other conventional fields to determine upper and lower boundaries of soil carbon and soil health parameters. Much of the soil analysis is ongoing. Preliminary data shows that there is a significant difference between soil carbon content in forested systems compared to conventional farmed soils, confirming our belief that despite the relatively low soil carbon content in this region there is still opportunity to improve carbon stocks through strategic soil management. In our first year of the study initiation we accomplished or initiated the following objectives. We sampled soils to establish baselines of mean soil C stocks for conventional agricultural fields and mature secondary growth forest stands on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The soil carbon and soil health lab analysis is still ongoing Objective 2 - Sampling initiating Winter 2022 Established the 3-year transition study at two locations in the coastal plains of NC (Upper Coastal Research Station and Horticultural Crops Research Station), this includes: Sampling down to 1m for background stocks of soil carbon and soil health parameters Planting cover crop treatments in fall of 2020 Applying the carbon inputs (Biochar and Composts) to fields in Spring 2021 and planting corn Sampling corn yields and soil samples from field at harvest Fall 2021 Planting cover crops for season 2 in Fall 2021 Ongoing: soil carbon and soil health analysis from first field season Ongoing: Statistical evaluation
Publications
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