Xia Zhu-Barker, assistant professor of soil and environmental sciences, received USDA-NIFA funding for her project Developing guidelines for organic grain growers to manage soil health and mitigate climate change impacts through NIFA’s Organic Agriculture Program. It was among 30 projects sharing $50.5 million in funding.

Project summary (from CRIS site): Facilitating the transition to organic farming and its sustainability in Wisconsin requires developing tailored soil health management practices (SHMPs) guidelines that can help organic farmers to improve nutrient use efficiency, increase crop yield potential, and mitigate climate change impacts like drought. In this project, we aim to leverage a comprehensive statewide soil health dataset, enhanced by new field observations, remote sensing data, and advanced machine learning models, to create a web tool offering region- and field-specific SHMPs guidelines for direct use by organic grain farmers in managing soil health and ensuring climate-resilient farming. Our specific objectives include (i) conducting state-wide sampling campaigns to assess soil health parameters, soil nitrogen mineralization rate, nitrogen use efficiency, crop climate-stress resilience, and yield under SHMPs, (ii) developing and validating farm-scale machine learning models to estimate crop yield dynamics under SHMPs, (iii) developing and validating farm-scale machine learning models to estimate changes in soil health parameters under SHMPs, and (iv) delivering SHMPs guidelines and corresponding nutrient management recommendations to organic farmers through a web tool that visualizes model outcomes and integrates existing resources. The results of this project will be disseminated to stakeholders and scientific professionals through extension activities and publications.Our interdisciplinary team, in partnership with extension specialists, soil conservation groups, and the organic farming community, is committed to providing region- and field-specific soil management guidance. This project is directly aligned with the program priorities, aiming to improve the productivity, ecosystem services, and profitability of Wisconsin’s organic farms while preparing them for a changing climate.