Promoting soil health, and therefore more profitable crop production, is the goal of the four-year-old Soil Health Partnership.

“What we’re trying to do is take a science-based, data-based ap­­proach to understanding soil health opportunities. And it’s not just looking at the soil parameters. It’s trying to link that with the yield, economic and environmental parameters that are going to help our farmers out,” said Nick Goeser, director of the Soil Health Partnership and soil health and sustainability for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA).

The Soil Health Partnership is administered by NCGA with support from Monsanto, USDA-NRCS, Walton Family Foundation, Midwest Row Crop Collaborative, General Mills Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund and the Nature Conservancy.

It is a farmer-led project foc­used on real results on the ground. More than 100 farms participate in field...