House Hearing on Soil Conveys Clear Message: ‘Stop Treating Our Soil Like Dirt’

On September 18, just as legislative business wound down before the November mid-terms, the House Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy and Forestry held a hearing on a topic that even a partisan Congress appears to agree on – the importance of soil health.  At the hearing, “the Benefits of Promoting Soil Health in Agriculture and Rural America,” ranking member Thompson (R-PA) and ranking member Walz (D-MN), both underscored the importance of conservation programs, including those conservation practices outlined in the 2014 Farm Bill in promoting soil health. Soil may not sound like a glamorous topic – but it is a keystone to environmental quality. It plays a critical role in agricultural productivity, clean water, carbon sequestration, and the farmer’s bottom line. While witnesses catalogued many successes in conservation practices, particularly with the use of cover crops, the panel made clear just how much more work there is to be done to ensure the health of one of our most precious natural resources -- soil. 

At the outset of the hearing, Jason Weller, Chief of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), recounted the history of the federal government’s role in soil health.  In response to the Dustbowl, Congress passed a law (P.L. 74-46), creating the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) because they recognized “the wastage of soil and moisture resources on farm, grazing, and forest lands . . . is a menace to the national welfare."  At the time, President Franklin Roosevelt even said, “the nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself.”  While practices like no-till and cover cropping are gaining ground, thanks to the efforts of groups like the NRCS, regional Conservation Districts and Extension offices as well as enterprising farmers, soil health is still undervalued.  National Association of Conservation Districts CEO John Larsen commented during testimony that while the 2014 Farm Bill,  soil health research and training efforts are critical – so are broader education efforts to inform the public  of the critical importance of soil health.    

Not only does soil health promote healthy crops, healthy soils have improved water holding capacity, allowing them to be more resilient to extreme weather events. The toxic algae bloom that occurred this summer in Toledo, Ohio, was the result of flooding that brought excess agricultural and urban nutrients and waste into Lake Erie. Scientists have found that such events will become more common, as extreme rainfall and flooding events are expected to increase over the next several decades in the Midwest. Conversely, improved soil health has been demonstrated to improve its water holding capacity, making soil and, therefore, farms more resilient to extreme weather. Not only do soils play a critical role in water quality, soil erosion is one of the largest issues the agricultural sector faces. According to 2006 research from Cornell University, U.S. productivity losses total $38 billion a year due to soil erosion. While a few millimeters of soil loss per year sounds small, it can take several hundreds of years to form one centimeter of topsoil.  

Hearing witness Jim Harbach, a Pennsylvania farm manager, discussed farming “in nature’s image,” including no-till and cover cropping practices on his farms. Thanks to conservation practices, he has benefitted from an increase in organic matter of one percent in a three year period, and soils that now can hold up to four and a half inches of water per hour. These soils, in turn, release less sediment, nutrients, and pesticides into waterways. Increasing soil organic content is a critical component to agricultural conservation and, according to Harbach, “Soil organic matter has many, many functions: water infiltration, water holding capacity, ground water recharge, and its ability to cycle and store nitrogen along with other nutrients… Conservation systems that enhance soil health also help increase carbon sequestration and organic matter, enhance nutrient cycling, provide pollinator habitat, reduce energy use, and produce the food, fiber, and bioenergy needs of our rapidly growing population. Farmers tell us that enhancing soil health also increases their profitability, thereby strengthening rural economies.”   

Overwhelmingly, witnesses returned to the same theme.  Economic benefits of conservation practices must be quantified, to demonstrate that conservation practices make sense.  The witnesses all agreed, farms are businesses, and the economic benefits of conservation practices need to be clearer. While climate change will increase extreme weather events, farmers can become more resilient to these changes, while improving environmental quality and saving money by reducing inputs. Degraded soils have long been accepted as the status quo but, according to Harbach, “soil health holds the answer to all of our problems.” 

For more information see: 

The benefits of promoting soil health in agriculture and rural America, House Committee on Agriculture

Driven by Climate Change, Algae Blooms Behind Ohio Water Scare Are New Normal, National Geographic 

‘Slow, insidious’ soil erosion threatens human health and welfare as well as the environment, Cornell study asserts, Cornell University