Partnership Exchange

With the support of a USDA Conservation Innovation Grant, AFT has launched online access to the methods, tools, and training resources it used in developing case studies featuring soil health successful farmers in its Quantifying the Economic and Environmental Benefits of Soil Health project.

Specifically, partners will be able to use AFT’s Retrospective Soil Health Economic Calculator (R-SHEC), an 11-tab Excel-spreadsheet tool, to evaluate the costs and benefits of soil health practices including no-till or reduced tillage, cover crops, nutrient management, and conservation crop rotation on row crop farms that have adopted any combination of practices, ideally for more than four years and within the last 10 years. 

Access the Soil Health Economic and Environmental Case Study Toolkit or reach-out for more information. 

ARVA is a spin off of a multi-institution collaboration focused on improving farmer sustainability both profitability and environmentally. We have a deep bench of collaborators at Lawrence Berkley and Oak Ridge National Labs. We have expertise in soil microbiome and machine learning.

Insights from the behavioral sciences are revolutionizing the way in which government programs are designed and delivered, and CBEAR is bringing this revolution to agri-environmental programs. A “test, learn, adapt” strategy helps programs be their best, achieve greater levels of program participation and satisfaction, and achieve improved environmental outcomes, all while reducing costs. To create evidence-based programs, CBEAR has been conducting randomized field experiments across the US. We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with private-sector or governmental partners on projects related to the following initiatives:
(1) Building the evidence base for financial vs. technical assistance;
(2) Building the evidence base for enhancing the post-contract persistence of conservation practices; and
(3) Building the evidence base for environmental and economic benefits of input efficiency.

CHS has a vast retail and whole crop protection and crop nutrient business across the US with retail operations that include dozens of Certified Crop Advisors positioned at our retail locations in 16 states. We are supporters of 4R nutrient stewardship, variable rate applications and related technologies and nutrient enhancement/stabilization/efficiency products. All of the previously mentioned items are key to supporting continuous improvement of key natural resources.

We have a variety of FTM projects across the cotton belt focusing mainly on US Cotton Trust Protocol enrollment. These projects have established a broad network of university, agribusiness, and industry professionals which have the ability to speak directly to producers regarding sustainability and supply chain resiliency. Enrollment in the US Cotton Trust Protocol will continue to be our focus, and data obtained from the pilot phase of this program may be used to fuel other initiatives and to help meet other sustainability goals of the agriculture industry at large.

Direct link to farmers and farmer-led conservation groups to participate in projects