Examining the Impact of Management Practices on Michigan Farms

By Justin Whitmore

Michigan farmers are teaming up with Michigan State University (MSU) researcher Christine Sprunger and the MSU W.K. Kellogg Biological Station to explore how land management practices impact soil health.

Sprunger, Associate Professor of soil health in the Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences, based at KBS, is collaborating with more than 90 farmers across Michigan to examine the impact different agricultural practices have on soil health, ecosystem diversity and crop productivity.

The KBS research team is working closely with partner farms. Researchers collect samples of each farm’s soil, greenhouse gas emissions, and above-ground biomass, while also working with each farm to understand management practices and unique socioeconomic conditions.

“We're really grateful that so many farmers wanted to participate in the study,” Sprunger said. “We have a large interdisciplinary team working on this project who are getting to know the farmers very well. There is a lot of collaboration and communication with faculty in a wide range of departments at MSU. We get a management survey from each farm that is critical to our study, because we can't really analyze the data without understanding the management.”

The collaboration allows researchers to collect a large data set to better understand dynamics across different soil types, different climates, and under different management conditions. Future work from this study will also link biophysical results to socioeconomic aspects of regenerative agriculture as well.