PA Environment Digest Blog: American Farmland Trust Seeking PA Corn, Soybean Farmers To Join Soil Health Practices Study, $1,000 Stipend Offered For Qualified Farmers

The American Farmland Trust is seeking corn and soybean farms in Pennsylvania to join a soil health practices study to test a new tool they are developing with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to predict the costs and benefits of practices like no-till, cover crops and nutrient management.

The results from the Predictive Soil Health Economic Calculator (P-SHEC) will empower farmers to make more informed decisions surrounding soil health practices on their farms.

The Trust is offering a $1,000 stipend for qualified farmers who participate in our tool-piloting process and a $100 “finder reward” for groups that put us in contact with farmers featured in our pilot process.

The Trust wants to work with a few farmers who are interested in soil health, but not yet using soil health practices, and want more information on the economic costs and benefits of certain practices.

The specific criteria include--

-- Farmers who have never adopted or have recently implemented (0-2 years) the following soil health practices: no-till, reduced till, cover crops or nutrient management changes as defined by NRCS

-- Farmers must be farming rainfed-only (not irrigated) corn and soybean rotations

Farmers can expect to spend up to 10 hours with us over 2-3 months. The Trust will ask farmers to talk about their current practices and interest in adopting new soil health practices.

The Trust will provide the farmer with a private report detailing the results of our analysis. Nothing will be publicly released without consent.

Farmers should fill out this contact form to begin a conversation about joining the study. Questions should be directed to Jen Tillman, Research Scientist, JTillman@farmland.org or 360-928-6551.

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