Reports
Soil Health Action Framework
Soil Health Action Framework: Fact Sheet
Soil Health Impacts: A technical literature review
Influences to Soil Health Practice Adoption: A social science literature review
Soil Health Baseline Data: email mosh@umn.edu to request access to a compilation of state and county level data about adoption of soil health practices. Data were compiled from USDA, state agencies, and other sources.
Summary: The Soil Health Action Plan for Minnesota was a collaborative effort of MOSH and the Board of Water and Soil Resources, with funding from the McKnight Foundation. The goal of this effort was to promote a coordinated approach to climate change mitigation and landscape resiliency, by collaboratively identifying goals, strategies, and actions related to soil management. We aimed to promote cross-sector conversations and produce guidance for public and private entities as they develop their own internal action plans, programs and policies.
The process: We convened an advisory committee representing a mix of practitioners in agriculture and conservation, and public and private sectors. During five meetings over 13 months, the group discussed goals, strategies, and potential actions for advancing soil health. The group was not asked to reach consensus or commit to actions, but to represent the diversity of voices in soil health work in Minnesota. Informed by the discussions of this advisory group and a technical advisory group, the project staff produced an interim report at the end of 2022 with a framework of goals, strategies, and actions. The interim report was not made public but served as the starting point for the next round of discussions. The final report released in January 2024 is a framework of priority issues and potential strategies that individual interest groups can use to create their action plans.
Project staff worked closely with the MN Dept of Agriculture staff who are coordinating a healthy soil management plan mandated by the state legislature. We ensured that their effort would be able to build off of and complement this project, and not duplicate work.
Funding
A grant from the McKnight Foundation to the Board of Water and Soil Resources. March 2022 through February 2024