Soil Health Summit: Welcome and Scope

IANR Media Author

11/22/2021 Added

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Recorded Friday, November 19, 2021.

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[00:00:04.360]Thank you all for coming today.
[00:00:06.690]Very, very grateful to all of you,
[00:00:10.590]those that have agreed to be on the program
[00:00:14.030]and those of you that are joining us
[00:00:17.270]for interaction as we go through the day.
[00:00:20.400]And I understand that there are some folks online,
[00:00:23.420]so welcome, and thank you for joining us in that manner.
[00:00:27.440]We're gonna start today off with some comments
[00:00:30.790]by vice president of agriculture,
[00:00:33.710]for the NU system and IANR vice chancellor
[00:00:37.020]of Institute of Ag and natural resources
[00:00:39.450]and the guy that I work closely with
[00:00:43.370]and who does my annual evaluation, Dr. Mike Boehm.
[00:00:48.823](applause)
[00:00:49.763]Thanks, Ron
[00:00:50.596](applause)
[00:00:51.890]Well, one thing Ron Yoder doesn't need
[00:00:53.720]to worry about as a key partner of Mike Boehm
[00:00:56.460]is his annual evaluation.
[00:00:59.065]Um, let's give it up for Ron Yoder,
[00:01:00.960]an amazing colleague.
[00:01:02.555](applause)
[00:01:03.388]Thanks, Ron.
[00:01:04.680]And thanks to all of you who are here in the room,
[00:01:07.500]and those who are joining us virtually.
[00:01:10.450]We'll get the number of registrants
[00:01:13.970]and let you know,
[00:01:15.545]somebody's already asked that question,
[00:01:17.560]but this is an important day for us.
[00:01:19.820]And thanks for making your way to Lincoln or joining us
[00:01:23.920]for the day to talk about a critical topic, soil health.
[00:01:30.210]We have, I have,
[00:01:32.890]we at the institute have long before me,
[00:01:35.700]talked about how critical it is
[00:01:38.110]as we think about producing food,
[00:01:40.480]fuel, feed and fiber for a growing world,
[00:01:43.640]and doing that sustainably, taking care of our soil,
[00:01:47.980]taking care of our water for the next generation.
[00:01:51.850]Doing it in a way that takes care
[00:01:53.760]of the people who produce our food,
[00:01:56.090]doing it in a way that ensures that the land is fertile,
[00:02:01.380]that the top soil is,
[00:02:03.470]is there for the next six generations
[00:02:08.300]that will be coming to the people's university,
[00:02:10.360]asking questions, Lisa, about,
[00:02:12.600]you know, what to do and how to do it better.
[00:02:16.070]The secret in the sauce in Nebraska is really the people.
[00:02:21.491]Well, we have a lot of smart people at the Institute,
[00:02:24.200]our faculty are world-class,
[00:02:25.730]our staff, long standing commitments,
[00:02:29.250]decades of service, our students, our change makers,
[00:02:33.240]and really making a difference today
[00:02:35.500]and they're tomorrow's leaders,
[00:02:37.420]but it's our producers,
[00:02:38.750]it's the citizens of the state that open your farms,
[00:02:41.980]your ranches, your watersheds,
[00:02:44.240]it's the partnerships with things like the NRDs,
[00:02:47.410]the natural resource districts, nowhere else in the country
[00:02:51.750]are they common sense enough
[00:02:53.980]to look at their natural resources based on watersheds.
[00:02:59.370]Mostly it's county lines or geographic districts,
[00:03:02.150]some dotted line on a map somewhere,
[00:03:04.870]where integrated systems thinkers in Nebraska.
[00:03:08.290]And today is an opportunity for us to dive
[00:03:11.230]into this complicated topic.
[00:03:14.070]I think some of you know,
[00:03:16.530]last week on KRVN, I talked about this platform today.
[00:03:20.930]I'm a plant pathologist,
[00:03:23.610]but I spent decades studying soil microbes
[00:03:27.540]and how soil microorganisms engage with plant roots
[00:03:31.670]and plants to actually influence what that plant does.
[00:03:37.090]And when you think about the soil,
[00:03:39.770]we think about the soil biology, that's where my head goes.
[00:03:43.310]We think about soil chemistry, we think about soil physics.
[00:03:47.880]And then we think about environmental changes
[00:03:51.700]over what? Over time.
[00:03:55.210]So as a scientist who studies plant roots
[00:03:58.130]and microbe interactions,
[00:04:00.300]you go down and you look at that plant root one day,
[00:04:03.910]under one set of conditions and you study it.
[00:04:07.250]What do you know?
[00:04:08.083]You know about that plant with those microbes at that time
[00:04:12.600]under those conditions.
[00:04:14.700]And it's people like some of the folks that we have here,
[00:04:19.070]Charles, where are you, Charlie, thank you so much
[00:04:23.540]for your time, the plots that you had
[00:04:25.930]at Haskell Ag lab that are still there.
[00:04:28.010]40 years of looking at longitudinal studies,
[00:04:31.300]that's what gets us from one little moment in time
[00:04:35.350]to look over time, to develop generalities and thoughts.
[00:04:39.520]Of course, as we think about our cropping systems,
[00:04:42.760]the producer, the corn, the beans, the livestock influences,
[00:04:48.810]the surface that moves down into the soil profile.
[00:04:53.200]You have to think about water,
[00:04:55.290]you have to think about management practices.
[00:04:58.210]All of this is interconnected and today
[00:05:00.610]as an opportunity to unpack some of this.
[00:05:03.050]And so with that, I'd like to thank Keith,
[00:05:06.320]thank the members of the governor's soil task force,
[00:05:10.040]soil health task force that came out with a report,
[00:05:13.320]to Charlie who's idea eventually came out,
[00:05:17.250]I think in May in a meeting with Ron and me
[00:05:20.340]that resonated with both of us
[00:05:22.090]and to you, Ron, thanks for picking it up and carrying,
[00:05:25.260]no pun intended, the water on this under the soil.
[00:05:28.870]I would like to introduce a colleague
[00:05:30.990]and a friend Dr. Doug Steele, Doug's back there at table 31.
[00:05:35.570]Can't miss him, Doug is an amazing agricultural leader.
[00:05:39.940]He works at something called,
[00:05:41.870]the association of public and land grant universities.
[00:05:44.940]He's based in Washington, DC.
[00:05:47.430]He happens to be coming to the finest place to hunt.
[00:05:50.430]And so he's here in Nebraska.
[00:05:53.760]Didn't have any luck yesterday,
[00:05:55.270]but we'll see what he does later today I guess.
[00:05:58.560]Doug is the vice president
[00:06:00.420]for agriculture and natural resources
[00:06:02.800]and through Doug and through the APLU,
[00:06:05.470]Doug's connected and helps connect places like IANR
[00:06:11.770]to 130 additional organizations
[00:06:15.670]that care about what we're doing.
[00:06:17.050]So it's an amazing national network,
[00:06:19.710]actually goes into Canada as well.
[00:06:22.290]So with that, I hope you have a great day.
[00:06:24.560]Thanks for being here, thanks for everything that you do.
[00:06:26.970]And I hope you get a lot out of this conference.
[00:06:29.620]I look forward to visiting with you, Ron.
[00:06:34.960]Thank you, Mike.
[00:06:38.500]As we get started here,
[00:06:40.549]let me just look at your tent card
[00:06:44.250]and on there is a URL
[00:06:46.930]and it will take you to a site where,
[00:06:49.824]you can visit that site.
[00:06:51.650]And we will use that throughout the day to,
[00:06:53.950]each one of you can put your input into that.
[00:06:56.950]It will be collected here.
[00:06:59.144]It will be in many cases projected up on the screen.
[00:07:02.360]So it will be the way that a group that size,
[00:07:05.520]can each one of you will have a voice
[00:07:07.990]and we can interact throughout the day via this URL.
[00:07:12.800]So, now might be a good time to start.
[00:07:17.125]A few minutes we'll,
[00:07:18.110]be asking some questions that you can put your input
[00:07:20.840]into that website.
[00:07:22.780]And David Veteran, Boone McAfee,
[00:07:24.840]and I can proudly chant, we are number two.
[00:07:30.011](indistinct chatter)
[00:07:33.920]Someone, some individual called the bar to Cincinnati,
[00:07:37.680]whoever he was.
[00:07:39.050]I'm not sure whether they were talking about the Cincinnati
[00:07:41.320]in Ohio or whether it was another one,
[00:07:44.240]but said, man has only a thin layer of soil
[00:07:47.570]between him and starvation.
[00:07:50.570]And that is really a good true comment
[00:07:55.550]that I think all of us can take to heart.
[00:07:59.120]But I think most folks, maybe not the ones in this room,
[00:08:02.780]but most folks think of soil as dirt.
[00:08:05.480]As a matter of fact, if you are a soil scientist,
[00:08:07.560]you have to correct people when they say dirt
[00:08:10.350]and point out that it's really soil.
[00:08:13.740]That dirt is only soil out of place.
[00:08:18.300]And it's much like water,
[00:08:19.930]in that we take it for granted that it will always be there,
[00:08:24.180]in sufficient quality and quantity to meet our needs.
[00:08:29.440]And unfortunately,
[00:08:30.350]as we look back over the experiences of man,
[00:08:33.500]and there are many that indicate that is not so.
[00:08:37.050]And that's why we're gathered here today
[00:08:38.790]is to talk about the state of soil health in Nebraska
[00:08:45.270]and in the broader context of the great plains
[00:08:48.850]in the United States.
[00:08:50.900]And also talk about what a complex system it is.
[00:08:55.480]How the different components play together very, very much.
[00:09:01.540]And it's very important to understand each component
[00:09:04.360]and how those components interact
[00:09:06.690]and hence the makeup of our second panel.
[00:09:11.420]Now, I got to thinking about this
[00:09:12.960]because I ran across, er,
[00:09:16.580]who knows why?
[00:09:18.600]I didn't find any other ones,
[00:09:20.070]but I ran across one of my four H achievement certificates.
[00:09:27.120]I don't have any of the ribbons, I don't have any thing
[00:09:29.830]but these three
[00:09:31.570]and that very first four H project that I ever did,
[00:09:36.670]more years ago than I can care to remember was
[00:09:39.770]in soil and water conservation.
[00:09:42.620]And that set me on a path toward a career
[00:09:47.560]in soil and water engineering, soil and water conservation.
[00:09:52.600]Now I will admit there was a detour into civil engineering
[00:09:57.060]where soil is looked at only as a building component.
[00:10:01.000]So we talked about soil strength in other words.
[00:10:04.180]What can you do to get the maximum strength out of soil?
[00:10:08.510]But it was a breath of fresh air when I went
[00:10:10.910]to graduate school and I returned to my roots in agriculture
[00:10:14.170]and took soils courses where they treated soil
[00:10:18.890]as a living, breathing organism, which it really is.
[00:10:22.900]So that's a lot of what we're going to talk about
[00:10:26.140]in the morning session today.
[00:10:27.730]We're going to look at what are the,
[00:10:30.110]what's the status today of soil?
[00:10:33.320]The health, what is the health of soil in Nebraska?
[00:10:36.720]And take a look at those parts
[00:10:40.080]of the complex system that we need to understand,
[00:10:43.380]to make sure that we have a very resilient system.
[00:10:48.800]Some of you may be suggesting, well.
[00:10:53.800]We don't have unhealthy soils.
[00:10:57.480]We get upwards of 300 bushels of corn per acre
[00:11:01.550]in some cases, our soil must be pretty healthy.
[00:11:04.480]And I would agree some of our soils are healthy
[00:11:07.510]and some of our soils are not very healthy.
[00:11:10.330]So that's part of what we're gonna talk about today is,
[00:11:13.593]how can we go to the point at which we have soils
[00:11:20.680]that indeed harvest a very long future,
[00:11:25.040]where we can sustain our very,
[00:11:28.700]very productive agriculture in Nebraska,
[00:11:31.860]and we can continue to feed the people of the world.
[00:11:38.660]So, one other quick comment that I wanted
[00:11:40.570]to make was relative to INR.
[00:11:44.560]We have recognized this as something that is very important
[00:11:49.590]to Nebraska, Nebraska agriculture Nebraskans,
[00:11:53.780]and we have over the past 10 years,
[00:11:56.200]been assembling an integrated team,
[00:11:58.690]taking a holistic approach to how we address the system
[00:12:04.390]of soil, water, crops, grasslands, ecosystems.
[00:12:12.410]Hiring talent in each of the areas
[00:12:15.890]that can study a particular component
[00:12:18.970]and then bring that back together in an integrated way.
[00:12:22.670]We've, in a quick count today did this morning
[00:12:25.450]over the past 10 years,
[00:12:26.580]we've hired 23 faculty members strictly in soil and water.
[00:12:32.140]Another 32 in crops and grazing lands.
[00:12:36.230]And in that I was not counting those people that are working
[00:12:39.720]in precision agriculture, be it crops,
[00:12:42.450]be it livestock or the people that are working
[00:12:45.660]in data sciences and statistics.
[00:12:48.600]So we have been putting together this team
[00:12:52.670]that we think can approach the very important questions that
[00:12:56.620]are pressing our society today
[00:12:59.920]about resiliency, sustainability.
[00:13:04.200]We are at the moment, as a matter of fact,
[00:13:06.510]both positions are currently
[00:13:08.420]in an active search hiring two individuals that
[00:13:11.590]are specifically, their job...
[00:13:14.849]Their position descriptions will say that they
[00:13:16.680]are working in soil health.
[00:13:18.750]One of those will be a faculty member
[00:13:21.230]in agronomy and horticulture in that department.
[00:13:24.160]Which that individual will have a teaching
[00:13:26.260]and extension appointment
[00:13:28.110]because that's what we've heard is needed.
[00:13:30.880]The second position will be our integrated,
[00:13:34.440]our water and integrated cropping systems team called Wix.
[00:13:38.910]That is a statewide extension educator who will work
[00:13:42.130]in the soil health area
[00:13:44.140]and will help integrate across all
[00:13:46.910]of these other positions that I mentioned.
[00:13:49.170]We'll bring individuals together
[00:13:51.810]and we'll serve it largely as the outreach person
[00:13:57.540]for soil health within that Wix team.
[00:14:01.750]And I should say that that team is a member.
[00:14:04.892]There are 30 extension educators on that Wix team
[00:14:07.890]and a similar number of tenure line faculty members as well.
[00:14:18.810]So I asked them to put the agenda up.
[00:14:21.780]I'll look over here, so I'm turning my back to you.
[00:14:25.640]Just a quick journey through the agenda today,
[00:14:30.030]we are extraordinarily fortunate
[00:14:31.890]to have Jerry Hatfield with us today
[00:14:35.340]to warm us up, Jerry, get us to light our fire.
[00:14:40.840]And we'll be talking about his knowledge and it is extensive
[00:14:46.890]of the components of soil health and how they come together
[00:14:51.420]to ensure that we have a healthy soil.
[00:14:54.350]And I will say a few more words
[00:14:56.190]about Jerry when I introduce him here in a moment.
[00:15:00.390]We then have the two panels that I've alluded to.
[00:15:03.790]The first panel is a status check of how healthy
[00:15:06.940]are our soils in Nebraska.
[00:15:10.130]And we have four individuals who have a great deal
[00:15:14.220]of experience, actually working the soil
[00:15:18.670]and can tell us their observations,
[00:15:21.630]working the soil, working cropping systems.
[00:15:24.960]The second panel is a little more scientific
[00:15:28.610]but we're not talking
[00:15:30.730]about extensive scientific presentations here.
[00:15:34.960]I put this panel together at the suggestion
[00:15:37.960]of some others that we will ask these people
[00:15:43.580]to help us understand the complex system
[00:15:47.280]that I've been talking about.
[00:15:48.870]So Umberto Blanco will approach it from a soil physics,
[00:15:52.460]from a physical perspective, Michael Kaiser,
[00:15:55.520]from a soil chemistry perspective,
[00:15:58.260]Virginia Gene who's with ARS,
[00:16:00.800]will talk about the biology of the soil system.
[00:16:03.850]And Andy Sucre has more than 20 years making measurements up
[00:16:07.870]at our Eastern Nebraska research and extension center
[00:16:10.950]about what happens at the soil atmosphere interface.
[00:16:15.360]What is coming off of the soil
[00:16:17.670]when you have that microbial activity.
[00:16:21.240]Then we're gonna do a very quick, what have you heard?
[00:16:24.660]I'll ask a few questions,
[00:16:26.230]you'll be able to see what the other participants
[00:16:30.290]in the room are thinking
[00:16:32.885]in using this interactive app that I've asked you
[00:16:35.120]to log into.
[00:16:37.720]And then in the afternoon, it's your turn.
[00:16:41.940]We're going to have two sessions that
[00:16:43.470]are structured very much the same,
[00:16:46.060]but we're going to ask you at table discussions
[00:16:49.250]to come up with some answers
[00:16:52.070]to these questions that we've put up there
[00:16:53.980]and we will put up there.
[00:16:55.670]And we ask that you designate
[00:16:58.860]at least one person from your table to enter these,
[00:17:02.980]to enter the feedback from the table
[00:17:04.780]into the interactive app.
[00:17:06.140]And we will look at that on the screen
[00:17:09.130]and we will have a time for interaction,
[00:17:13.670]either online or with the roving mic.
[00:17:18.770]And then in the last half hour,
[00:17:22.150]we will in an interactive way,
[00:17:24.770]talk about some prioritization of going forward.
[00:17:29.240]What are some of the things,
[00:17:31.004]that we at the university can do and should be doing?
[00:17:35.520]And what are some things that
[00:17:37.140]are needed beyond the walls of the university?
[00:17:41.520]So we will then wrap it up with some comments from our,
[00:17:45.160]I've asked our two moderators,
[00:17:48.130]I don't know if I did ask them, but I'm asking them now,
[00:17:51.530]to keep some mental notes throughout the day.
[00:17:56.350]And I have asked Jerry as well for them
[00:17:58.860]to each give two or three minutes
[00:18:00.320]of their comments of what they've heard
[00:18:03.430]throughout the day.
[00:18:04.760]And we will then wrap up and I would like to take,
[00:18:08.700]if I have a moment or two, I do.
[00:18:12.840]Usually do this at the end of the day,
[00:18:14.560]and I will do it again.
[00:18:15.660]But it's often by the end of the day, people are leaving.
[00:18:19.890]These kinds of things do not happen without the hard work
[00:18:24.030]of a lot of people.
[00:18:25.840]And the people that
[00:18:27.010]are often the ones that make it work the best
[00:18:31.040]are the ones that are least noticeable.
[00:18:33.560]So, Mike Cam back there on the camera,
[00:18:36.550]Mike always does a fantastic job.
[00:18:39.999]And Alisa Ruba who has made sure that every detail
[00:18:44.750]has been taken care of,
[00:18:47.770]including bringing me a mic when it appears that,
[00:18:50.840]my mic is not working.
[00:18:53.060]So with that, and by the way, was Jesse in the room.
[00:18:57.940]Anyhow, Jesse Brophy, there she is, Jesse.
[00:19:01.270]And then with Jesse in the back of the room,
[00:19:03.940]there is Crystal Powers and Crystal is taking care
[00:19:07.150]of all of our technology related to the interactive app.
[00:19:12.350]We've done this in a few other venues.
[00:19:14.690]It has worked extremely well
[00:19:16.570]and as I said, it gives everyone an opportunity
[00:19:19.400]in a larger group like this, to have a voice,
[00:19:22.040]it gives everyone an opportunity to interact.
[00:19:24.750]And then it gives everyone the opportunity to see,
[00:19:27.620]what other individuals are thinking and what they're saying.
[00:19:32.840]So I see you're already on there.
[00:19:35.530]So please go on your mobile device
[00:19:38.090]or your computer and tell us who you are.
[00:19:53.631]So you can see on the graphic, on the screen,
[00:19:58.008](indistinct chatter)
[00:19:58.880]who your table mates are.
[00:20:01.910]And I am, oh, I was gonna say,
[00:20:05.190]I'm very pleased to see that you,
[00:20:07.270]you all have us out numbered here in education and research
[00:20:12.250]and you still do so we'll, we'll go with that.
[00:20:16.087](indistinct chatter)
[00:20:17.630]Second question is, there you go.
[00:20:21.150]So just drop a pin where you call home.
[00:20:39.150]Okay. Where are our next interactive question?
[00:20:44.200]As the prelude to visiting with our panelists?
[00:20:50.260]It's up there on the screen,
[00:20:51.530]why is soil health important?
[00:20:53.490]And this will come up as a word cloud.
[00:20:56.000]So we wanna see, what words you use
[00:20:59.690]to describe why soil health is important.

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Soil Health Summit: Welcome and Scope

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