Soil Health Case Studies - American Farmland Trust

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Soil Health Case Studies

The following soil health case studies feature “soil health successful” row crop farmers or almond growers who have economic success stories to tell about adopting various soil health practices. AFT and partners produced these case studies using our Retrospective Soil Health Economic Calculator (R-SHEC) Tool and additional materials in our Soil Health Case Study Tool Kit. To learn how to produce your own case studies, visit our “Quantifying Economic and Environmental Benefits of Soil Health” webpage.

We have compiled and summarized the results of these case studies here: https://farmland.org/soil-health-case-studies-findings/.

California

Okuye Farms

Ralf Sauter improved his bottom line by $657 per acre and by $76,155 on all 116 of his orchard acres by adopting nutrient management, conservation cover, mulching, and compost application.

Tom and Dan Rogers

Tom and Dan Rogers improved their bottom line by $991 per acre and by $173,345 on all 175 of their orchard acres by adopting nutrient management, conservation cover, mulching, and compost application.

Faith Home Orchard

Christine Gemperle improved her bottom line by $499 per acre and by $9,976 on the 20 acres in this study where she grows almonds and adopted cover crops.

Illinois

Thorndyke Farms

Larry Thorndyke improved his bottom line by $34 per acre and by $47,086 on the 1,400 acres in this study by adopting strip-till and no-till, nutrient management, and cover crops.

Ifft Yorkshires

The Ifft family improved their bottom line by $22 per acre and by $35,685 on the 1,800 acres in this study by adopting nutrient management and cover crops.

New York

Swede Farm LLC

Jay Swede improved his bottom line by $55 per acre and by $82,257 on the 1,500 acres in this study by adopting no-till and strip-till, cover crops, and nutrient management.

Macauley Farms LLC

John and Jim Macauley improved their bottom line by $44 per acre and by $25,036 on the 1,106 acres in this study by adopting no-till, cover crops, and nutrient management.

HaR-Go Dairy Farm

Steve Gould improved his bottom line by $11 per acre per year or by $4,780 annually on the 450 acres in this study, achieving an 18% return on investment, by adopting no-till, cover crops, and nutrient management.

Ohio

MadMax Farms

Eric Niemeyer improved his bottom line by $38 per acre and by $47,569 on the 1,250 acres in the study area by adopting no-till, cover crops, and variable rate fertilizer applications.

Homewood Farms

Dan Lane improved his bottom line by $56 per acre and by $102,366 on the 1,830 acres in the study area by adopting strip-till, nutrient management, and cover crops.

Oklahoma

2N2E Farms

Mark Nault improved his bottom line by $28 per acre and by $3,523 on the 126 acres in this study where he grows wheat and sorghum and adopted no-till, cover crops, diversified crop rotation, and nutrient management.

Herriman Farms

Scotty Herriman improved his bottom line by $4 per acre and by $1,402 on the 350 acres in this study where he grows corn and soybeans and adopted cover crops, strip-till corn, no-till soy, and nutrient management.

Pennslyvania

B&R Farms

B&R Farms improved their bottom line by $20 per acre and by $7,055 on the 360 acres in this study by adopting no-till and cover crops.

Released February 2022

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