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con·ver·sa·tion/ˌkänvərˈsāSHən/
August 5, 2024
August 5, 2024
August 5, 2024
August 15, 2024
Healthy soil is essential to agricultural and environmental sustainability and productivity. Just as good health is vital to human well-being, the ability of a soil system to perform key functions is crucial to its health. WSU's NWREC is home to one of the critical research trials.
Chris, Deirdre, Gabe, and Molly
NWREC's Washington Soil Health Initiative
(L-R) Molly Mcilquham, Deirdre Griffin LaHue, Chris Benedict, and Gabriel LaHue
WWAA: Chris Benedict is a regional extension specialist with Washington State University based in Whatcom County and the university’s lead on the Washington State Soil Health Initiative (WaSHI). Chris, this is exciting stuff. Tell us about the WaSHI.
Chris Benedict: The Washington Soil Health Initiative is a partnership among the Washington State Conservation Commission, the Washington State Department of Agriculture, and Washington State University, to establish a coordinated approach to protect and improve the soils in Washington. So we're conducting large-scale, long-term research of different crop rotations and soil management practices. We have six sites across the state, and they represent major agro-ecological regions: Mount Vernon, Puyallup, Wenatchee, Prosser, Davenport and Othello. This is big picture stuff. This is looking at things that not just benefit farmers and consumers, but benefit the environment as well.
WWAA: Thanks Chris. It’s a multi-agency effort, and it’s a multi-person effort as well. Gabe, tell us how you’re involved.
Gabe LaHue: I am a soil scientist here at Washington State University's Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center. And among my many areas of focus is soil physical health. That's part of what we're looking at in this experiment.
WWAA: So as a soil scientist, what is it that you look for when you're researching soil?
Gabe LaHue: I'm really interested in how soil interacts with water. Specifically in this area (Northwest Washington), we get a lot of rainfall in the winter, and our soils have to infiltrate water as quickly as possible during that season. Right now (July) it's hot, it's dry, and we want our soils to store as much water as possible so we can wait as long as possible before we have to irrigate. When I'm looking at soil, I want good structure. And that means how the soil particles are arranged. I loved playing with Legos as a kid, so I always thought of soil structure in that context. You may not be able to change which Lego pieces you have, but you can change what you build from those pieces, and whatever you build serves a certain function. It’s the same with managing soils to build good soil structure that provides functions like infiltration, water storage, etc.
WWAA: And Deirdre, you’re looking at the research from another perspective as well?
Deirdre Griffin LaHue: Yeah, I’m also a soil scientist here at WSU, and the thing I love about soil is that it encompasses chemistry, biology, physics, math, geology. My work focuses particularly on the biological and chemical aspects of the soil. There's so much we're learning about soil biology and the role that bacteria, fungi, earthworms and other organisms play in the soil. They drive a lot of important processes we need from soil (turning plant material into organic matter and nutrients), and I’m researching how soil management affects their ability to do those things.
Gabe LaHue explains the Mount Vernon WaSHI experiment to the Washington Grown program in the summer of 2024.
WWAA: Ultimately, how will this research help our farmers?
Gabe LaHue: We're ultimately looking to help farmers, policy makers, and the general public understand more about soils. But really, we want to help guide farmers in how they manage the soils on their farm based on the outcomes they are hoping to achieve. There are a lot of farmers who are trying different things, often very innovative things with respect to soil management, and they're all trying to do what fits within the constraints of their current production system. We hope this research is going to help them have long term sustainability for generations.
WWAA: It's easy for a lot of us to look at a field and say “it's just dirt.” And the dirt here in Northwest Washington is some of the best in the world. But there’s so much more to it, right?
Deirdre Griffin LaHue: Exactly. There are a lot of organisms in a handful of dirt. They may be dormant right now because it's a little hot and dry (July). But that's what we try to look at…how the way we manage the soil might impact the processes that microbes are doing. One thing that we're looking for is how quickly the organisms in the soil can decompose plant material. We also look at nutrient availability for the various crops and the impacts they might be having on soil tilth. We're doing yield measurements and finding how our soil management impacts nutritional outcomes of our crops like barley.
WWAA: So then how do the farmers take that information and apply it to their specific crops?
Deirdre Griffin LaHue: For this project, we have a really close group of farmers that are advising us on the really important things to look at. So we meet with them several times a year and talk about what we're finding. They give us their input and we move forward. The more we know, the easier it is for us to sustain these projects. There's a lot we still need to learn, particularly about soil biology. None of this happens overnight. We're not coming out here and then, boom, we learn everything we need to know. It takes a lot of time, which is why we're so fortunate to have this long term experiment here through the Washington Soil Health Initiative. It's really, really important to be able to look longer term because there's a lot of year-to-year variability. One year might be different than another. And if we can't look at it over the long term, then it's really hard to see what's really going on in the soil. Soils are slow to change.
Deirdre Griffin LaHue explains how she takes soil samples.
WWAA: So then how do the farmers take that information and apply it to their specific crops?
Deirdre Griffin LaHue: For this project, we have a really close group of farmers that are advising us on the really important things to look at. So we meet with them several times a year and talk about what we're finding. They give us their input and we move forward. The more we know, the easier it is for us to sustain these projects. There's a lot we still need to learn, particularly about soil biology. None of this happens overnight. We're not coming out here and then, boom, we learn everything we need to know. It takes a lot of time, which is why we're so fortunate to have this long term experiment here through the Washington Soil Health Initiative. It's really, really important to be able to look longer term because there's a lot of year-to-year variability. One year might be different than another. And if we can't look at it over the long term, then it's really hard to see what's really going on in the soil. Soils are slow to change.
WWAA: And every farm's different. Every crop has a different soil need, right?
Gabe LaHue: Absolutely. Every crop has a different soil need and every region has different soil health challenges. So when we started back in 2019, we did a listening session with farmers and other stakeholders. That is really what helped inform what we're experimenting with here.
One of the things that's really unique about our region is we're all part of one big rotational system. You don't grow potatoes here year after year for a number of reasons, mainly to protect the soil. One of the soil health concerns that farmers identified was soil borne diseases. These are diseases that might attack the roots or get into the plant from the soil. That can be a big challenge for farmers. So everything has to be part of a crop rotation, and that’s why we look at management impacts on soil within the context of these rotations. For our long-term trial, we have silage corn, winter wheat, fresh-market potatoes, spring barley, and cover crops.
WWAA: Testing the soil isn’t the only thing you’re tracking. It sounds like you’re also looking at crop performance?
Gabe LaHue: Yes, absolutely. We're tracking the yield and quality of all the crops we’re growing. And then every year we test the soil on a standard soil test that a farmer might do. And then every four years we come back and we do a really intensive sampling. Then we test a whole suite of soil health properties that really helps us get a comprehensive picture. How can we get as much carbon, as much organic matter into the soil as possible? How can we offset some of the problems associated with climate change? And so we are trying to get more of the carbon into the ground to help us adapt. But any soil management practice can have unintended consequences, so that's why we're trying to be as comprehensive as possible with what we're measuring. We’re collaborating with entomologists to look at insect pests and beneficial insects, we’re collaborating with plant pathologists to look at surface blemish diseases and other soil borne diseases, we’re collaborating with weed scientists to understand the impacts on weed pressure, and we’re definitely collaborating with economists.
WWAA: So how deep are you looking at the soil?
Deirdre Griffin LaHue: A lot of times we'll just stick to the surface, but especially for the long term research, it's really important to go deep because there's a lot going on down there as well. So every four years we take samples down to four feet and then we divide them into different sections and analyze things so we can look at what's going on through the whole soil profile.
WWAA: At the end of the day. What do you like so much about this research?
Deirdre Griffin LaHue: Soils are foundational to so much of our lives. Humans rely on soil. Our ecosystems rely on soil, our food systems rely on soil. A little piece of soil can have an impact on the globe, which is just pretty cool.
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