UC Berkeley

The relentless global pursuit of food and fiber production, often at the expense of natural ecosystems, has resulted in agricultural systems that degrade local biodiversity and environmental quality. While farmers have traditionally possessed the knowledge to maintain soil health and ecosystem balance, modern industrial agriculture has shifted towards simplistic, input-dependent practices. Organic farming offers a step towards sustainability by reducing synthetic inputs, yet it often falls short, still relying on organic substitutes and failing to address deeper ecological concerns. In contrast, soil health management practices, rooted in principles from the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), offer holistic strategies beyond mere input substitution. These practices prioritize maximizing living roots and soil cover, fostering biodiversity, and minimizing soil disturbance. However, practices that put these principles into action such as cover crops and reduced tillage remain underutilized, even among organic farmers. Understanding the barriers to the adoption of soil health management is crucial for transitioning to a more balanced agricultural paradigm that sustains productivity and environmental integrity.Most of our current understanding of the impacts of soil health management comes from research-station trials that isolate 1-2 practices at a time, within a single edaphic and climatic context. Recent on-farm research endeavors to bridge this gap by examining how management practices impact soil health metrics in real-world settings. Rebuilding soil organic matter (SOM) is a core goal of soil health management, given its manifold benefits, including supporting soil life and enhancing structure and nutrient availability. Increasing SOM levels aligns with short- and long-term goals of bolstering soil health and combating climate change through carbon sequestration. However, it isn’t clear how implementation of soil health practices, as utilized on actively managed farms, impacts these different carbon goals. Beyond carbon, soils provide many critical ecosystem services, and the impacts of soil health management on various soil-mediated ecosystem services and general multifunctionality is not well resolved. Managing farms for multiple ecosystem services beyond crop production can also present challenges, as trade-offs and conflicting priorities often arise. Understanding the intricate interplay between local soil characteristics, management practices, and various stakeholder objectives is essential for crafting effective policies. My dissertation addresses these challenges by delving into three key areas of agricultural development: identifying barriers to adopting soil health practices, exploring the impacts of management on soil carbon, and assessing the relationship between management practices and multiple ecosystem services. By integrating social, economic, and environmental perspectives, my dissertation informs policies that facilitate the transition to sustainable soil management practices, fostering a more resilient and environmentally sound food system. Briefly, we find that different farming models face unique and varied challenges in adopting soil health practices. On farms with higher levels of continuous living cover, reduced disturbance, and crop diversity, we observe higher carbon stocks and increased mineral-associated and particulate organic matter. We also find that management tends to be more influential on distinct carbon outcomes relative to inherent soil properties. Lately, we identified eleven beneficial relationships between various soil health practices and soil-mediated ecosystem services including yield, soil fertility, carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, soil microbial diversity, and mitigating excess end-of-season soil nitrate. Continuous living cover in particular emerges as a key practice to enhance multiple services simultaneously (ecosystem multifunctionality). While not a panacea, improving soil management practices represents a crucial step toward achieving multifunctional and sustainable agricultural landscapes.