14pgs, The adoption of soil conservation practices by farmers offers the potential to greatly improve soil health and water quality at large geographic scales. In considering the potential benefits of soil conservation practices to improve ecological outcomes on farms, it is important to ascertain where farmers get their information about soil conservation and what type of information they are exposed to and by whom. One primary way that farmers learn about soil conservation practices is via agricultural trade publications (ATPs). We conducted a content analysis using a computational text analysis method to analyze all the online soil conservation coverage from four influential ATPs in Wisconsin. We focused on 10 different soil conservation practices and found that the most frequently covered soil conservation practices were tillage, manure, and grazing. Additionally, we analyzed the thematic categories for how each soil conservation practice was covered in terms of agricultural, environmental and economic benefits. Generally, articles tended to mention environmental and economic benefits more than agricultural benefits across all soil conservation practices. We also unpacked the subcategories of environmental benefits using cover crops practice as an example to demonstrate how it was covered in terms of subcategories such as biodiversity, sustainability, climate change, water quality, and soil health. Our analysis also looked at how agricultural technology was featured in the stories about soil conservation and found that this category was regularly mentioned for each practice. Finally, we examined the message sources for stories on soil conservation and found that extension and the federal government were the most the frequently cited entities. We also discussed how this form of computational content analysis can provide longitudinal insights about trends in a particular soil conservation practice like cover crops, which showed a clear upward trend in coverage in ATPs for the time period studied. These nuanced content analyses provide insights into what types of thematic categories are featured about soil conservation practices covered in ATPs in Wisconsin. Advocates of soil conservation practices can use our results to determine if some practices could benefit from more attention in ATPs as well as which benefits and themes have received more media coverage. Additionally, stakeholders from entities that serve as different message sources can determine how their organizations are doing as the spokespeople for the soil conservation practices being advocated.
11 pages, via Online journal, The Soil Vulnerability Index (SVI) was developed by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to identify inherent vulnerability of cropland to runoff and leaching. It is a simple index that relies on the SSURGO database and can be used with basic knowledge of ArcGIS. The goal of this study was to investigate a relationship between constituent (sediment and nutrient) loadings and fraction of the watershed in each SVI class. The SVI maps were developed for each of the seven subwatersheds of the Mark Twain Lake watershed in Missouri, which were similar in soil conditions and climatic variability. The SVI assessment was performed by investigating if the distribution of the SVI for cropland in each subwatershed could help explain measured 2006 to 2010 sediment and nutrient loads better than crop distribution alone. Regression analyses were performed between annual loads of sediment and nutrients exported from the watersheds and a composite number that included either cropland distribution alone, or cropland distribution combined with the SVI. Coefficients of determination and p-values were compared to assess the ability of land use and SVI distributions to explain stream loads. Integrating the SVI in the land cover variable improved the ability to explain constituent loads in the watersheds for sediment, total nutrients, and dissolved nitrogen (N). Regression results with and without the SVI were identical for dissolved phosphorus (P), potentially indicating that SVI was not indicative of dissolved P transport at the current site. Overall, the application of the SVI at watershed scale was not perfect, but acceptable at correctly identifying cropland of greatest vulnerability and linking with transported constituent loads.
6 pages, via Online journal, Most agricultural soils are depleted of their soil organic matter (SOM) reserves. A severe loss of SOM content may degrade soil functionality, its capacity for provisioning of essential ecosystem services, and soil health. Therefore, restoration of SOM content in soils of agroecosystems may reverse the degradation trends, enhance ecosystem services (Banwart et al. 2015), and advance Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. (Lal et al. 2018a). Increase in SOM content may also partially replace the use of chemical fertilizers and supplemental irrigation, while restoring the environment.
3 pages, via online journal, The fast-moving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic engulfed the world within four months from December to March of 2020, with long-lasting impacts on social, economic, political, educational, and scientific programs. It exacerbated risks of food and nutritional insecurity for a large segment of society, and threats of disruption in the food supply chain may be aggravated by climate change, soil degradation, and the flood/drought syndrome. Ensuring adequate access to nutritious food is a daunting challenge even in developed/scientifically advanced countries, and is a sheer tragedy in poor nations.