© 2016 Field to Market. All Rights Reserved.

Supply Chain Sustainability and Soil Health

Allison Thomson

Soil Health Conference: Strategies to Build Soil Health

February 2nd, 2016

• Introduction to Field to Market

• Sustainability Metrics: Relationship to Soil Health

• The Fieldprint Calculator

• Supply Chain Sustainability Projects

• Supply Chain Engagement with Soil Health

Overview

© 2016 Field to Market. All Rights Reserved. © George Thomas

Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable

Agriculture focuses on defining, measuring

and advancing the sustainability of food,

fiber and fuel production

© 2016 Field to Market. All Rights Reserved.

Meeting the needs of the present while improving the ability of future generations to meet their own needs by:

• Increasing productivity to meet future food and fiber demands

• Improving the environment

• Improving human health

• Improving the social and economic well-being of agricultural communities

How We Define Sustainable Agriculture

• Engage the full supply chain including producers

• Focus on commodities crops with unique supply chains and traceability issues

• Science based

• Outcomes based

Guiding Principles

• Technology neutral

• Commitment to individual grower data privacy

• Emphasis on continuous improvement

• Measure broad-scale trends and field-scale outcomes

© 2016 Field to Market. All Rights Reserved.

Deliverables: What We Are Doing

Supply chain projects:

Direct engagement in continuous improvement

Grower Fieldprints: Individual opportunities

for continuous improvement

National indicators report:

Documentation of overall trends

Public data and modelsCollaboratively developed

Outcomes based

• Field to Market Metrics are each designed to measure a specific environmental outcome:• That is important for ensuring environmental

sustainability

• At a scale relevant to a farm operation

• That is responsive to changes in farm management

• Where robust scientific understanding supports high confidence in modeled results

• Where available tools balance robustness and simplicity for broad usability by farmers and their advisors

Agricultural Sustainability Metrics

8

• Direct soil health outcomes• Soil Conservation (erosion): reduced with improved soil health

• Soil Carbon: increased with improved soil health

• Indirect soil health outcomes• Water Quality: opportunities to improve

• Irrigation Water Use: opportunity for greater efficiency

• Land Use (productivity): opportunity for higher productivity

• Biodiversity (habitat potential): opportunity for enhancement

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions: complex relationship

• Energy Use: complex relationship

Metrics: Relationship to Soil Health Enhancing Practices

• This metric was designed to measure sediment erosion from agricultural fields due to water and wind.

• expressed as tons of soil loss per acre

• The metric is calculated using the NRCS tools RUSLE2 (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) and WEPS (Wind Erosion Prediction System)

• Inputs include user supplied crop type, residue management, conservation practices, cover crops and tillage practices.

• Additional environmental inputs – soil properties and weather – are automatically pulled from USDA databases based on field location.

• Benchmarks are available at the National and State level based on USDA Natural Resources Inventory erosion estimates by crop type.

• For more information• RUSLE2: http://www.ars.usda.gov/Research/docs.htm?docid=6028

• WEPS:https://infosys.ars.usda.gov/WindErosion/nrcs/wepsnrcshtml

Soil Conservation Metric

10

• For a Fieldprint Project in Iowa in 2013-2014

• Soybean production under different tillage practices result in different soil erosion estimates.

• Data can be aggregated across areas to illustrate trends

Soil Conservation Metric Example

11

Average

Soil Loss

ton/ac/yr

Share of

Fields

(Percent)

Average Yield Bushels

per acre

Conservation 13.4 3.4 49.9

Conventional 15.9 9.0 51.4

No-Till 8.0 87.0 48.5

Soil Loss and Yield for Slopes 7% or Greater

Source: Stewart Ramsey, IHS Consulting

• This metric is currently represented by the NRCS Soil Conditioning Index (SCI)

• Inputs are soil properties, field location, soil characteristics, tillage and other field management

• The output is a qualitative score from +1 to -1 and is not crop-specific.• A value between -.05 to +.05 is considered to represent zero or no change in soil carbon. • As the value moves further away from zero, the magnitude can be interpreted as the level

confidence in the trend of soil carbon increasing (+) or decreasing (-) in the soil• The metric outcome does not indicate the rate of change or absolute amount of carbon

• SCI accounts for three major factors influencing soil carbon: • Organic matter and crop residue returned to the soil• Soil erosion from water and wind• Field equipment operations.

• Initially incorporated into the Fieldprint Calculator in 2012, this metric will be reviewed in 2016.

Soil Carbon Metric

12

• For Nebraska Corn and Soybean farmers working with University Extension

• Compare with others in the same region

Soil Carbon Metric Example

13

© United Soybean Board

The Fieldprint® Calculator

Measuring Field Level Outcomes and

Identifying Opportunities for Improvement

• An online education tool for row crop farmers that indexes their agronomics and practices to a Fieldprint

• Helps growers evaluate their farming decisions and compare their sustainability performance

• Simultaneously consider multiple indicators of sustainability and tradeoffs in practice adoption

• Comparing individual fields against:• Their own fields• Prior year(s) of performance on the same field• Supply-chain project averages for their area• Regional, state and national averages

What is the Fieldprint Calculator?

Measuring at the Field Level

© 2016 Field to Market. All Rights Reserved. © James Jordan

Fieldprint® Projects

Supply Chain Partnerships

for Continuous Improvement

• Demonstrate use of calculator on the ground to test utility at the grower level and through the supply chain

• Engage farmers across geographies, crops, and supply chains

• Sponsors include grower organizations, supply chain companies, conservation organizations, and NRCS

Fieldprint Projects

Supply Chain Partnerships in 22 States

20

Corn

Cotton

Potatoes

Soy

Rice

Wheat

• Producers working to improve soil health should see improvements in most if not all of the FTM metrics over time

• The Soil Carbon and Soil Conservation metrics can be used to begin focusing on soil properties in relationship to sustainability

• Are there additional environmental outcomes specific to improved soil health that we need to consider adding to the Field to Market metrics program?

Supply Chain Engagement in Soil Health

• Define the key, measurable sustainability outcomes of improved soil health.

• Resolve issues of spatial and temporal variability in assessing soil health across different cropping systems.

• Advance calibration of soil health testing protocols to ensure accuracy across all states and commodity crop systems.

• Identify biological indicator(s) of soil health that is cost effective, accessible and interpretable across a range of systems.

• Advance soil testing lab capabilities to conduct the soil health protocols and provide standardized, practical guidance based on field results.

• Advance research on conservation practice adoption effects on key soil health indicators across varied climates, soil types and cropping systems.

Advances in Soil Health Important to Supply Chain Sustainability

• Advancing Soil Health Research

• Promoting Soil Health Testing

• Connecting Soil Health Enhancing Practices to Sustainability Outcomes

• Staying engaged with efforts to better understand, measure and improve soil health on US crop land

Supply Chain Support for Soil Health

© 2016 Field to Market. All Rights Reserved.

© Eric Socolofsky

Field to Market, the Field to Market logo and Fieldprint are registered trademarks of Field to Market. All other brand names,

product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. © 2015 Field to Market. All rights reserved.

Thank You

For More Information

Visit www.fieldtomarket.org