The Soil Fertility Lab is excited to announce that it was awarded two North Central Region SARE grants!
PhD candidate, Jordon Wade was awarded a graduate student research grant to study how soil health is conceptualized amongst key stakeholders in agricultural soil sciences. Soil health is a widely-discussed topic in production agriculture and policymaking. Although formal definitions have been proposed, few studies have looked at how stakeholders within the agricultural production system conceptualize this topic. This study will work to define mental models amongst farmers, researchers, and NRCS employees in order to improve communication amongst these groups. This project will involve collaboration with SENR graduate student Margaret Beetstra, as well as professors Robyn Wilson and Eric Toman.
A research grant was awarded to the team of Nicole Hoekstra, Steve Culman, and Brad Bergerfurd for their proposal submission, "Assessing Soil Fertility and Soil Health in Midwest Hop Production". Their study will be on-farm working closely with hop growers and will evaluate their current fertilization regimens for their efficacy in optimizing hop yields and cone quality. This will be a multi-state assessment with an overall goal of developing fertilization recommendations for hop production in the Midwest.
Congratulations to both research teams for a job well done!