The Dollars and Cents of Soil Health.

Soil health drives agronomic production costs, crop yields and quality, food safety outcomes, profitability and a host of environmental impacts. It does so via multiple mechanisms, only a few of which have been the subject of careful field research. This presentation will describe the dominant ways through which soil health impacts the performance of agricultural systems, and in particular profitability, and draw upon the literature and case studies to estimate economic impacts per acre, by mechanism, for major crops in each U.S. production region.  For each region-crop combination, the most important factors undermining soil health, and their impacts on cost structures, agronomic performance and profitability, will be contrasted to outcomes in the wake of proven steps to enhance soil health.  Preliminary estimates will be made of the economic impacts of recent changes in soil health by region, likely trends and costs through 2025 in the absence of meaningful investments in soil health, and projected changes in practices, costs, and returns if a true soil health renaissance were to unfold across America’s agricultural landscape.