If you want to accelerate the economic benefits of soil health on your farm, it’s important to at least run some back-of-the-napkin figures, including input costs and yield expectations, to establish a baseline. That will allow you to evaluate progress each year as you fine-tune your soil health system.
“I can see the wheels turning when we talk about a new practice as a farmer does the math to make sure it’s a good fit or see how big of a risk financially it might be,” explains Abbey Wick, soil health specialist at North Dakota State University (NDSU) Extension. “I’m not sure we’ll ever have this broad number to tell a farmer they can save money using soil health practices, but I do think we can help them talk through the ideas to make them cost-effective for their operation.”
A good foundation can also help farmers through challenging years, adds Dave Franzen, also a soil health specialist at NDSU.
“The healthy soil is more likely to yield better in extreme weather conditions, such as too wet or too dry,” Franzen says. “The input costs to grow a crop are lower — less tillage, less nitrogen fertilizer, etc.”
NRCS is collecting soil health economic case studies that show significant economic gains are being achieved by farmers who have successfully adopted soil health management systems in diverse production scenarios.
No matter where you stand in your soil health journey, Wick and Franzen share practical steps to ensure you strengthen your financial position by paying attention to the underlying wellness of your soil.
For Farmers Just Getting Started
- Strive for progress rather than perfection. “If you have to do something you didn’t intend to do because conditions aren’t ideal [such as tillage to repair ruts after a wet harvest], you might feel like you failed. Give yourself a break and pick up again next year,” Wick says.
- Manage risk with small steps. Try a new practice on 20 acres versus 200 acres, Wick advises. For example, plant cereal rye, triticale or a mixture with oats to reduce termination issues. Talk to local experts and seek out resources. Ongoing learning can offset risk because it gives you better data.
For Farmers With Moderate Experience
- Fine-tune and scale. Think about how practices you’ve tried successfully can be adjusted to work on different fields. This will help optimize your ROI across the operation. “For example, play around with reducing nitrogen rates, but always leave a check strip with the full rate so you know if you need to sidedress nitrogen,” Wick recommends. Next-level experiments might also look like variable-rate cover crop planting or using different cover crop species or higher seeding rates on high clay soils and lower rates on sandier soils.
- Play it smart. Avoid getting glassy eyed with one conservation practice to help your soil. Doing so can prove costly if you fail to consider the business implication. “Keep your eye on the ultimate goal of farming, which in my opinion is to have a product to sell with a low cost of production while still protecting the environmental resources,” Wick says.
For Farmers With Advanced Experience
- Challenge yourself with diverse perspectives. Once your farm advances to this stage, it will be difficult to make comparisons to other producers because every business is so different. Continue to build a network of people with diverse backgrounds with whom you can learn and share ideas and keep on track, Wick notes.
- Experiment with precision focus. Achieving a measure of soil health expertise can open the door to business ventures that might unlock new revenue streams. “A new specialty crop with a niche market may be introduced into the system, or broad-scale application of compost, integration of livestock or plenty of other out-of-the-box ideas,” Wick says. “It’s still important to continue trying new practices on small acres before talking large scale.”
The Soil Health Stewardship guide will help you explore, test and improve your farm’s greatest asset. Download for free.
