Farmers and ranchers are businesspeople, and the questions that often present the most significant barrier to adoption of soil health management systems pertain to the business case. The Soil Health Institute interviewed 100 farmers in 9 states who have adopted soil health systems and used partial budget analysis to evaluate their economics and answer the following question:
Do soil health practices increase or reduce profitability?
farms assessed in states where 71% of the corn and 67% of the soybeans are grown in the U.S
reported increased crop resilience to extreme weather
Net income increased for 85% of farmers growing corn and 88% of farmers growing soybean
reported a higher yield than their conventional system
Reduced the average cost to grow corn by $24/acre and soybean by $17/acre
Increased net farm income by an average of $52/acre for corn and $45/acre for soybean
The Soil Health Institute uses partial budget analysis as the tool for comparing expenses and returns in a soil health management system compared to a conventional management system. A description of the partial budget analysis approach used by the Institute can be found here.
Economics of Soil Health Systems on 100 Farms is supported through the generosity of Cargill.
