Progress 07/01/24 to 06/30/25
Outputs
Target Audience:The project targets on in-service and future agricultural professionals for training them with efficient soil health management practices. The audience extends to senior high school students, college students, science teachers, and local farmers. In the project year of 2024-2025, the project team reached out to the potential audience of more than 300 individuals via an array of outreach channels including farm visits, field days,conferences, meetings, symposia, classroom teachings, website posting, and personal communications. More than 120 individuals received soil health, agrivoltaics, and leadership education and training through curriculum integration, training workshops, extension meetings, and outreach events, including twelve (12) trainees in the summer soil health training workshop, seventy five (75) students enrolled in the credit courses Soil Science, Soil and Water Management, Sustainable Agriculture, Horticulture, and Farm Management, and thirty eight (38) participants in the Soil and Water Management symposium. In addition, nearly two hundred (200) middle school students and teachers from Capital School District were exposed to the concept and importance of soil health at the 2025 MANRRS (Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences) farm tour. Changes/Problems:Major changes in the project execution during the past year were integration of agrivoltaics in and addition of climate-smart agriculture to the soil health teaching and workshop training. Agrivoltaics as a promising cropping system and sustainable farming method has been advocated by the renewable energy and clean energy sectors and will have markable impacts on soil health. It is necessary that students and the agricultural community as a whole be prepared for adopting the new cropping system. Agriculture has been influencing climate change by releasing greenhouse gases and been influenced by climate change in temperature, precipitation, growing season, pest and disease prevalence,and severe weathers. Climate smart agriculture relies heavily on soil health management. We are developing teaching materials and training kits to educate students with climate-smart farming practices. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A suite ofeducational and training activitieswere implemented to prepare agricultural professionals with the science and skills of soil health assessment and management, including 1.Soil health-integrated curricula of AGRI208 Soil Science, AGRI219 General Horticulture, AGRI309 Farm Management, AGRI-350 Problems in Ag & Natural Resources, AGRI404 Sustainable Agriculture, and NTRS401 Soil and Water Management 2. Soil and Water Management symposium (3/11/2025) 3. Delaware MANRRS (Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences) farm tour (4/11/2025) 4.Four-week Soil Health and Leadership Training workshops (6/2-27, 2025) 5. Graduate fellowships 6. Maintenance and improvement of thewebsite https://www.1890soilhealth.org How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project results were disseminated to the communities of interest throughwebsite announcements, classroom teaching, farm tours, flyers, emails, conferences, workshops, personal communications, and other outreach efforts. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project received one more of no-cost extension. The time will allow the project team to continuously implement diverse education and training activities to prepare more agricultural professionals with the science and skills of soil health assessment and management. The 1890 soil health education website will be further enriched and improved by adding more relevant materials and resources. The science of soil health will be continuously delivered to students through the modified curricula with soil health and agrivoltaics integration. Cultivation of a PhD student in Soil Health will continue and is anticipated to accomplish by next year.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The primary goals and objectives of the project were basically achieved in the previous project year (by June 30, 2023). The project impacts and outcomes were significantly enlarged by the continuous implementation of soil health education and training activities during the no-cost extension year of 2024-2025. The soil health training academy at Delaware State University was evidently improved, with enhanced teaching and training capacity as demonstrated by integration of agrivoltics and climate-smart agriculture in curriculum courses and summer training workshops. The soil health education website (https://www.1890soilhealth.org) is now active, delivering soil health information, resources, and training opportunities to stakeholders. Most of the soil health training materials developed through the project are posted on the website and downloadable to the public, including presentations, primer readings, publications, and relevant networks. Gardeners, crop growers, and hobby farmers started to cultivate healthy soil and further improve soil health by using soil testing services, practicing soil health card method, and adopt sustainable farming approaches such as winter cover cropping, crop rotation, conservation tillage, and organic amendments.
Publications
- Type:
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2025
Citation:
Adewumi, O., He, Z., Dhandapani, R., & Guo, M. (2025). Lime equivalence
values of 19 biochar products made from defatted cottonseed meal, poultry litter, and woody sources for quality assessment. Agricultural & Environmental
Letters, 10, e70017.
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Progress 07/01/23 to 06/30/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience of the project included minority K12 rising college students, STEAM undergraduate students, graduate students, and local agricultural professionals in particular farmers.During the project year of 2023-2024, the number of students received soil health and education and leadership trainingthrough traditional classroom teaching, independent learning, and workshop training integration and experiential learning projects reached 85, including 5rising college students, 77 undergraduate students and 3 graduate students.Four (4) scientists (including two postdocs), two (2) extension specialists, and five (5) farming practitionerswere additionally improvedwith the scientific system and management practices of soil health. Nearly two hundred (200) agricultural production professionals were exposed to the concept and importance of soil health andlearned effective soil health management principles and practices through the project team's extension and outreach efforts via bus tours to farms,farm visits, field demonstrations, conferences, and consulting service. Changes/Problems:There has been little project management assistance available. Without the technical support from a professional, the project director Dr. Guo has to take the responsibility and commit extraordinary time and efforts to coordinating the project team members, concurrent project tasks, and grant administrative offices. Though each project year 0.5 months of salary and fringe benefits were requested, Dr. Guo has been challenged to devote more than 2.5 months of time and efforts to executing the project. The sponsored programs system has been administrating restricted funds by strictly following the original budget and its justifications. Funding agencies like USDA-NIFA may grantproject directors with the authority to slightly adjust the budget items (e.g., within 10%) without pre-approvals. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In the project year of 2023-2024 the following soil health training and professional development opportunities were provided to the target audience: 1. A two-day bus tours to farms in West Virginia 2. Soil health-integrated curricula of AGRI208 Soil Science, AGRI-309 Farm Management, AGRI-350 Problems in Ag & Natural Resources, AGRI404 Sustainable Agriculture, and NTRS401 Soil and Water Management 3. A one-day "Benefit from a Few Acres" small farm conference 4. Delaware MANRRS (Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences) Outreach event (4/12/2024) 5. Smyrna Outreach and Research Center Openhouse 6. Four-week Soil Health and Leadership Training workshops 7. Graduate fellowships 8. Publication of the website https://www.1890soilhealth.org How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project results were disseminated to the stakeholders via flyers, farm visits, classroom teaching, conferences, workshops, and website announcements. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project has been extended for one more year without additional costs. To enhance the outcomes and enlarge the impacts of the project, the established soil health education programs will be continuously implemented via credit course teaching, small farm conferences, graduate student cultivation, and mostly importantly, summer training workshops.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The project original objectives have been basically realized. Continuous implementationof the project becomes critical to enhance its potential impacts by cultivating more minority agricultural professionals with efficacious soil health assessment methods and management practices. Aprototype soil health training academy has been established at Delaware State University (DSU), containing professors, Cooperative extension specialists, and small farm educators as the major workforceand soil health-integrated curricula, summer training workshops, experiential learning projects, demonstration plots,small farm conferences, and farm bus tours as the training programs. Soil healthteaching materials, training modules, and experimental learning tools and supplies were developed and tested in practices, granting DSU with the primary capacity of soil health education and training. In the past two years a total of nineteen (19) students were intensively trained through 4-wk summer training workshops with the science of soil health and cultivated with leadership skills and certified as soil health master trainers. Numerous agricultural professionals in the Delmarva region and nationwide received the information of soil health assessment methods and management techniques through small farm conferences and farm tours. Studentand farmer trainees were also trained with essential leadership skills highlighting the team spirit, time management, effective communication, and critical-thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities. The soil health education website https://www.1890soilhealth.org has been constructed and published, through which the soil health education and training institutionalmaterials are made available to stakeholders and the general public.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Soil health and leadership training manual. 2024. Delaware State University, Dover, DE, USA.
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Progress 07/01/22 to 06/30/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience extended tominiority undergraduate students, agricultural graduate students, and general crop growers. During the project year of 2022-2023, the number of students received soil health training andeducation through curricum integration and experiential learning projectsreached 83, including 81 undergraduate students and 2 graduate students. Four (4) scientists and 3 professionals were further provided with the knowledge and skillsof soil health assessment and management. More than 150 Delmarva crop growers were introduced with effective soil health management practices through Ogutu and Wetherill'scooperative extension services via farm visits, workshops, and professional consulting.At least 50 attendeeslearned the concept and scientific development of soil health from a presentation by Guo at the 2022 ASA-CSA-SSSA annual meeting. Additionally 85 local high school studentswere exposed to the science of soil health throughoutreach events. Changes/Problems:It is rather challenging to recruit college students to attend the 2-4 weeks of summer soil health training workshop, as the workshop schedule may be in conflict with otherinternship and job opportunites that college students pursue. We will start the student recruitment earlier from January 2024 through intensified annoucement and outreach events. Last year one international student from India was admitted to the soil health PhD program yet the student was not able to join the project as a result of COVID-incurred visa processing delays. We are working hard to recruit another graduate student into the program, hopefully a domestic candidate. Summer is the busy season of field crop management. It is difficultto recruit farmers to attend summer training workshops or identify local farms for workshop trainees to visit and learn. The project team will work to improve student learning activities of soil health extension skills training by stressing on leadership skill cultivation and development. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In the past project year the following training and professional development opportunities were provided to the target audience. 1) Students enrolled in the Fall 2022 credit courseNTRS401Soil and Water Managementand in the Spring 2023 coursesAGRI208 Soil Science, AGRI309 Farm Management, and AGRI404 Sustainable Agriculture received soil health education through curriculum integration. 2) Soil health experiential learning projects were offered to students enrolled in the Fall 2022 credit courses AGRI340 Experiential Learning in Agriculture and NTRS360 Experiential Learning in Natural Resources. 3) Two soil health graduate fellowships were awarded to identified graduate student candidates. 4) A four-week soil health education and training workshop (5/22 - 6/16/2023) was organized to train seven students with the advanced science of soil health and the critical soil health leadership and extension skills. 5) Attendees of the DSU agricultural extension conference Profitting from a Few Acres and the Delaware MANRRS Outreach event in March 2023received interactive introduction and descriptive flyers ofsoil health. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results were disseminated to the stakeholders and the general public through various conferences and outreach events, such as 1) the oral presentation entitled "The developing soil health system" by Guo at the 2022 ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Meeting, Baltimore, MD on 11/7/2022, 2) a brief project introduction by Guo at the virtual Urban Agriculture Meeting on 11/29/2022, 3) a brief project introduction by Witherill at the webinar Agrivoltaics Research at Jack's Solar Garden on 12/7/2022, 4) introduction of the project by Ogutu at the virtualDelaware Soil Health Partnership Meeting on 3/8/2023, 5) introduction and flyer districution of the project at the DSU Cooperative Extension conference "Profiting from a Few Acres Conference" on 3/9/2023, and 6) introduction and exhibition of soil health programs and books at the Delaware MANRRS Outreach event on 3/31/2023. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The following activities and events have been planned for continuing the project and achieving the project goals. 1) Continuingsoil health education for undergraduate studentsthrough curriculum integration in the existing credit courses AGRI208/309/404 and NTRS401 2) Awarding soil health experiential learning projects to students enrolled in the experiential courses AGRI340 and NTRS360 3) Supporting graduate students with soil health research and training and recruit one more graduate student into the program 4) Improving the design of the summer soil health training workshops and host the workshops in Summer 2024 5) Finalizing the construction of the website 1890soilhealth.org and make it actively available, and 6) Continuing to participate in soil health-releated meetings and outreach events to reach more audience
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The major accompliments toward achieving the project goals and objectives are as follows: 1) Contined curriculum integration and implementation of soi health education through the courses AGRI208 Soil Science, AGRI309 Farm Management, AGRI404 Sustainable Agriculture, and NTRS401 Soil and Water Management; 2) Development of soil health experiential learning projects covering knowledge preparation and hands-on practices. The projects were offered in Fall 2022 semesterto train 7 students through the course AGRI340 Experiential Learning in Agriculture and NTRS360 Experimental Learning in Natural Resources; 3) Recruitment, admission and support awardsto two PhD candidates concentrating on the science of soil health.One graduate student has made great progress in credit courses and dissertation research; 4) Design and implementation of a four-week summer soil health training program. Training materials including curriculum, schedule, primer readings, lectures, videos, experiential learning activities, and evaluation tools were developed and used in the Summer 2023 Soil Health Training Workshops to intensivelytrain 6 undergraduate students and 1 graduate students with soil health management, leadership, and extension skills; 5) Preliminary design of a soil health education and training website. Materials including pictures, descriptions, reference articles for constructing the website were prepared. A web domain https://www.1890soilhealth.org was confirmed. 6) An additional investigator was included in the project team. To strengthen the human capital for the project execuation, Mr. Andy Witherill, a small farm educator and an extension specialist at Delaware State University was approved to be a co-project director.
Publications
- Type:
Books
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
The Science of Soil Health workbook. 2023. Delaware State University, Dover, DE, USA.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Timoteo, A.J. and M. Guo. 2023. Efficacy of sewage sludge derived biochar on enhancing soil health and crop productivity in strongly acidic soil. Front. Soil Sci. doi.org/10.3389/fsoil.2023.1066547
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Progress 07/01/21 to 06/30/22
Outputs
Target Audience:During the project year of 2021-2022, the target audience focused on miniority undergraduate and graduate students. A total of 36 undergraduate students and 3 graduate students received soil health education and training through curriculum integration and thematic training courses. In addition, 2 scientists and 4professionals were further trained with the advanced science and technologyof soil health management. More than 100 attendees were exposed to the concept and practices of soil health via webinars and conference presentations. Changes/Problems:It is practical and may be more effective to train students systematically trained with the science and practices of soil health assessemnt and management via semester-long experiential learning projects. In the following project years, we will developsoil health assessment and management experiential learning projects and provide them to students via the two courses Experimential Learning in Agriculture (AGRI-340) and Experiential Learning in Natural Resources (NTRS-360). What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In the project year of 2021-2022, the following soil health training and professional development opportunties were provided: 1. Soil health-integrated credit courses: AGRI-208, NTRS-401, AGRI-404, and AGRI-552. 2. Support to attend the 10-day Cornell University virtual advanced soil health short course. 3. Attending soil health professional conferences such as the 2022 PASA conference, the 2022 ARD symposium, and the 2022 Soil Health Institute Annual Meeting. 4. Movie watch: Delmarva and the Ground for Change. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results were disseminated to students, farmers, agricultural professionals, and other stakeholders through classroom education, presentation at professional meetings (e.g., PASA annual meeting, ARD Research Symposium, Antigua and Barbuda Climate-smart Agriculture Workshop, and the Small Farms Conference "Profiting from a Few Acres"), collaborations withlocal farms (e.g., Bobola Farm & Florist and Delaware Nature Society Coverdale Farm Preserve), and other outreach events and activities. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the second project year, the following tasks areplanned to help achieve the project goals. 1. The existing soil health teaching materials will be further tested and improved. 2. Soil health education will be continued via curriculum course teaching. 3. A pilot course Soil Health Assessment and Management will be developed. 4. A soil health education and training website will be created. 5. Soil health student training will be implemented through experiential learning courses (AGRI-340 and NTRS-360). 6. A summer "Train-the-Trainer" workshop will be hosted to train students with soil health management and leadership skills. 7. Reach out to more local farms and disseminate the project results via conferences, webinars, and extension events.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Significant progress was made in the first project year toward achieving the overall goal of the project. A soil health training academy including two scientists (Dr. Guo and Dr. Elavarthi), two extension specialists (Dr. Ogutu and Mr. Andy Wetherill), and three graduate assistants (Adewumi, Jacobs, Hemanth) was formed at DSU.The team was prepared with the science and knowledge of soil health by reviewing the soil health literature, participating in the 10-day Cornell University soil health training course, and attending professional meetings hosted by Soil Health Institute, Soil Science Society of America, and PASA Sustainable Agriculture. A educational guidebook introducingthe scientific system of soil health was created and published. Soil health teaching materials including lecture notes, slides, primer readings, videos, and quiz questions were developed or adopted. The content of soil health was integrated into the curricula of Soil Science (AGRI-208), Soil and Water Management (NTRS-401), Sustainable Agriculture (AGRI-404), and Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition (AGRI-552). A total of 54 students received soil health education through the above-mentioned courses in the first project year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Train-the-Trainer worhshop was delayed. A make up will be implemented in the second year through two experiential learning courses (AGRI-340 and NTRS-360) in Fall 2022.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Guo, M. 2021. Soil health assessment and management: recent development in science and practices. Soil Syst. 5, 61. doi: 10.3390/soilsystems5040061
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Guo, M. 2022. The developing scientific system of soil health. Presentation at ARD Research Symposium 2022. Atlanta, GA. April 2-5, 2022.
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