Projects

The Remote Sensing team at the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate developed an interactive dashboard to help users generate maps and charts based on Daily Erosion Project data to show annual precipitation, runoff, and soil loss for user-selected years and watersheds.

Soil health thought leaders from public and private organizations meet to develop strategies for advancing soil health in Minnesota and to collaborate across sectors.

MOSH surveyed farmers across the state to learn about their soil management practices and experiences.

A MOSH-BWSR project to create a Minnesota action plan for scaling up adoption of soil health management practices that mitigate the impacts of climate change and increase landscape resiliency.

Crop advisors are a trusted source of information for farmers regarding all types of agronomic topics, including soil health practices such as cover crops and reduced tillage. Dr. Cates interviewed private-sector crop advisors to learn how conservation fits into their business model.

Researchers use satellite imagery to estimate the extent of cover crop growth, crop residue cover, and daily erosion losses in Minnesota. The project is funded by BWSR; and led by researchers in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, with help from Iowa State University.

Minnesota NRCS and BWSR provided funding for demonstration sites, where public and private-sector partners can collaborate to demonstrate field-scale application of soil health practices.

An NRCS-funded project collecting, analyzing and sharing on-farm soil health data to help farmers and others interpret and use soil health measurements.

SWCD partners are collecting pictures of cover crop growth to track how planting date and other factors impact biomass production across Minnesota.

To evaluate claims that no-till cover-cropped systems allow farmers to plant faster after rain, we’re evaluating soil conditions in different tillage and cover systems at the Southern Research and Outreach Center in Waseca, MN.