MDARD Grants $4 Million to University of Michigan Supporting on-Farm Soil Health Research

By Jennifer Holton

Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) Director Tim Boring today announced a $4 million research grant with the University of Michigan (U of M) as part of Governor Whitmer's Healthy Climate Initiative. The funds will focus on soil health research to address water quality challenges and improve outcomes within Michigan's portion of the Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB). The grant also funds work to increase adoption of climate-smart regenerative agriculture practices and conduct water quality monitoring studies in the WLEB.

"Governor Whitmer's bipartisan budget demonstrates the state's commitment to addressing the challenges facing our farming community due to climate change including water quality issues,"  said Director Boring. "Understanding soil health indicators helps our farmers implement the best management practices for their land and effectively reduce the amount of nutrient loss leaving the farm field and making its way into the Western Lake Erie Basin - all of which fundamentally impacts our state's water quality."

Starting in the summer of 2024, the U of M team will begin working with farmers in the WLEB and farms participating in Michigan Climate Smart Farming Practices to collect soil health and management data to understand which management practices are most effective for nutrient use efficiency.

"We will couple field scale data from a wide range of farms in the basin with water quality monitoring, improving the capacity to predict how changes in management influence water quality,"  said Jennifer Blesh, Lead Investigator and Associate Professor at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. "Results can improve guidelines for conservation programs, and ultimately conservation outcomes, by helping to shift resources toward practices that achieve economic, social, and environmental goals."

Boring added that increasing the number of farms implementing regenerative agriculture practices, soil health research, and water quality monitoring have a direct impact with the state's strategy to reduce nutrient loss from farm fields, improve soil health, and combat harmful algal blooms in the WLEB.