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ARS Home Northeast Area Burlington, Vermont Food Systems Research Unit Research





- Peters, Christian
- Hammond-Wagner, Courtney
- Human Nutrition (107)
- Water Availability and Watershed Management (211)
- Sustainable Agricultural Systems Research (216)

Research Project: **Location:
                            Food Systems Research Unit** Project Number: 8090-44000-001-006-S
                        
                        Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement Start Date: Sep 1, 2023
                        
                        End Date: Aug 31, 2026 **Objective:**
                        
                        Interest in the role of soil health in influencing environmental benefits and yield stability has grown in the last decade amongst researchers, producers and across food supply chains. The ways in which biophysical and social dimensions of agroecosystem management interact with agri-environmental programs to promote soil health remains an important topic of inquiry. Analyses exist linking environmental characteristics to soil health metrics, but there are very few examples of analyses linking social data on conservation planning, farmer motivations and farmer characteristics with soil health metrics. To better understand the factors that influence, drive and limit soil health improvements on farms, the Cooperator and the Agency will evaluate the social and environmental characteristics of farms in the northeastern US associated with measures of soil health. The project has four objectives: 
 
1) Expand the geographic reach, participant demographic diversity and response rate of a survey, led by the Cooperator, evaluating the soil and water conservation behaviors, barriers, motivations, and perceptions of farmers in New England. 
2) Measure soil health on farms that have participated in the aforementioned survey. 
3) Build a coupled dataset of survey-based social science data and soil health measurements from New England farmers.  
4) Assess the relationship between survey-based social science data on conservation planning, farmer motivations, and farmer characteristics, field management, environmental-based characteristics of farm fields/location, and measures of soil health. **Approach:**
                        
                        A survey will be fielded amongst a sample of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut farmers to measure factors that limit and drive farmers' conservation management decisions in this region. The survey instrument has been previously developed by the Cooperator and is currently being fielded amongst a sample of farmers participating in a Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) in the Connecticut River Watershed across the states of VT, NH, MA, and CT. The survey received Institutional Review Board approval through the University of Connecticut, a partner of the Cooperator’s on the RCPP project. The survey instrument includes binary, ordinal, categorical and open-ended questions on conservation management practices, motivations for conservation management, capacity, knowledge, perceptions, and demographics. For this agreement, a sample of five hundred farmers, stratified by state, will be recruited. Participant recruitment will occur in collaboration with farmer networks & Natural Resource Conservation Districts in each of the four states. A sample of 100 farmers is anticipated from this effort with a 20% response rate, which will be in addition to the anticipated 100 farmers participating in the RCPP. 

Soil samples will be taken from participating farms and assessed for soil health attributes. Farmers in the survey sample will be asked to participate in soil sampling and testing on their farm and receive soil health test results for three-to-five fields. Additionally, farmers that have participated in the Connecticut River Watershed RCPP (Western New England Regenerative Agriculture Project) will be asked to participate in soil sampling. In total, sampling 600 fields from 200 farmers is anticipated. Soil samples will be evaluated using the Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health (CASH). Soil samples will be collected and sent to the Cornell Soil Health Testing Lab for assessment.  

The social science survey data and soil health assessments will be combined into a single dataset, with each farmer survey response connected to the corresponding three-to-five soil health test results. In addition to the collected survey and soil sample data, environmental characteristics of soils from the Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO) will be gathered and incorporated into the dataset at the field scale for all sampled fields. 

The relationship between survey-based social science data on conservation planning, farmer motivations, and farmer characteristics, field management, environmental-based characteristics of farm fields/location, and measures of soil health will be assessed. Data will be analyzed using regression modeling and multivariate analysis techniques. Results will be shared with participating farmers, technical advisors, and the broader community via meetings in each state and through participation in farmer conferences.


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