Healthy soils, resilient farms: U.S. soil conservation lessons

January 10, 2025

Agricultural harvesting at the last light of day, aerial view. — Image: © JamesBrey | iStock

David Green, Policy Advisor, and Maite Caballero, Researcher, from the U.S. Sustainability Alliance, examine healthy soils and resilient farms, focusing on lessons learned from U.S. soil conservation

Video above: Join three generations of an American farm family and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service as they focus on soil health while improving sustainability and stewardship of the land.

As Europe embarks on a transformative journey in agriculture, marked by evolving policies, farmer discontent, food security concerns, and recent natural disasters affecting many countries, soil health has never been more important. Healthy soils are the foundation of sustainable farming, influencing crop productivity, environmental quality, and climate resilience.

Both the United States (U.S.) and the European Union (EU) have a myriad of policies to address climate change in agriculture, most notably:

The U.S. Farm Bill –
- includes agricultural subsidies, conservation initiatives, rural development, and nutrition assistance.
The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy –
- a framework that integrates environmental sustainability into agricultural subsidies.

However, over the years, a more systems-oriented approach has been adopted in the U.S. to address conservation challenges. This approach includes a combination of mitigation strategies and the adaptation of agricultural practices to soil conservation, which are essential for maintaining and enhancing the land’s ability to sustain agricultural productivity and food safety.

Healthier soils

Under the Soil Health Bill in the state of Illinois (1), soil health is defined as “the overall composition of the soil, including the amount of organic matter stored in the soil, and the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans.” (2)

While there is no blueprint for designing fields to make them more resilient and healthier, U.S. farmers have adopted land stewardship practices, ensuring crop productivity and environmental resilience. Some of these practices include:

Cover crops help protect the soil between planting seasons by reducing erosion and nutrient runoff.
No-till practices seek to minimize soil disturbance and retain soil structure and moisture.
Organic amendments (such as compost and orchard recycling) return nutrients to the soil, further enhancing soil health
Water management practices (such as irrigation management and the use of soil moisture monitoring tools) – ensure long-term water availability, especially in areas affected by drought.

Agriculture seen through partnership

In the U.S., soil sustainability is understood as a partnership: with other farmers, local state and national government, land grant colleges, other universities, and private companies. These partnerships are important for developing tools to quantify the impact of conservation practices, such as carbon sequestration metrics and soil health indicators, as well as for advancing climate-smart agriculture.

For example, in Iowa, to measure agricultural drought, which involves assessing soil conditions up to one meter deep, a collaborative system has been established between farmers and the State Meteorological Association. Under this arrangement, farmers host soil monitoring stations on their properties through formal contracts laying out their responsibilities to participate in data collection efforts.

Farmers measure soil moisture levels in their fields weekly and submit this data to a central database, aggregating the information for analysis. This consistent and localized data collection ensures accurate monitoring of soil conditions across various regions, with the aim of balancing agricultural productivity with environmental resilience.

These partnerships are often created at a local level to ensure that any solutions or projects are tailored to their region’s specific needs.

Natural Resources Conservation Service programs and initiatives

Organizations like the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA NRCS) provide American farmers and ranchers with technical and financial assistance to improve their conservation practices and tackle climate challenges. NRCS has created a series of programs (3) focused on different agricultural areas to enhance soil health and adapt to climate change.

For example, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a flagship initiative that helps farmers improve soil health, air and water quality, and wildlife habitats while reducing climate impacts. EQIP serves as an entry point for many U.S. farmers seeking to integrate conservation into their operations.

NRCS also has a Climate Smart Agriculture & Forestry (CSAF) initiative promoting strategies such as carbon sequestration and emissions reduction while helping farms adapt to changing conditions.

These efforts are grounded in solid research and include 166 conservation practices designed to boost sustainable productivity.

Another program, the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), provides funding for farmers to enhance their existing conservation practices. For example, a farmer already using cover crops might receive additional support to experiment with multi-species cover cropping or implement deep-rooted crops to combat soil compaction.

Regional solutions for soil conservation

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) allocated $19.5 billion to enhance conservation solutions like these, focusing on soil carbon sequestration, water quality, biodiversity, and climate resilience, showcasing the U.S. commitment to tackling climate change through agricultural resilience and mitigation programs.

As part of this, USDA is investing more than $3.1 billion across 141 projects through its Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities initiative. (4) This effort will leverage the greenhouse gas benefits of climate-smart commodity production, and provide direct, meaningful benefits to production agriculture, including for small and underserved producers.

While financing mechanisms and partnerships in agriculture are not new, U.S. programs prioritize collaboration with individual farmers through local NRCS offices, ensuring region-specific solutions. In contrast, the EU emphasizes a top-down model with broader guidelines applied across Member States. Although this approach supports EU-wide sustainability goals, it sometimes struggles to address region-specific challenges as effectively as the U.S. system.

By promoting soil management practices, fostering partnerships, and providing government funding, the U.S. invests in soil conservation and creates a more sustainable agricultural system that addresses climate change challenges while supporting food security and ecosystem health.