COS 22-2 - Finding common ground: Uncovering opportunities for sustainable agricultural transitions in the Midwest

Abstract: Agricultural practices that build soil organic carbon (SOC) serve as a climate change adaptation and mitigation strategy by offsetting greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously improving resilience, such as through increased water infiltration and retention. Well-managed grazing offers greater potential to build SOC than annual row crop practices, which was supported by our on-farm research with 33 paired row crop and grazed pasture sites in southern and central Wisconsin. On average, pastures had 5.5 tons more SOC per acre in the surface six inches of soil compared to paired row crop sites. In addition, the amount of SOC increased as pasture age increased, indicating that the continued management of pastures is critical. Given these findings, it is important to uncover barriers to and opportunities for increasing farmer adoption and continued management of well-managed grazed pastures across the landscape. To better understand the benefits of grazing, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 Wisconsin farmers from the on-farm research sites to listen to their motivations for adopting and continuing to use grazing. The farmers expressed several positive outcomes, including economic, environmental, and personal benefits. Given the corroboration between reported benefits of grazing and farmer experiences, interviews are now being conducted with row crop farmers in Iowa and Wisconsin to explore how we can increase grazing across the landscape. We anticipate both structural and social barriers to change. This research will help us to work in partnership with farmers, build relationships, elevate their concerns to other researchers and policymakers, and communicate more effectively. Considering both soil health metrics and adoption of agricultural practices will enable us to create an agricultural system that works for us all.