The
University of Maryland Eastern Shore just received a major boost to its
Chesapeake Water Quality Center from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation
Service. The Center received nearly a
half-million dollar NRCS grant to “enhance knowledge regarding use of standard
metrics to assess soil health,” particularly for agricultural land management.”
“As interest in soil health management continues to
increase, so does the need for consistent, replicable, scientifically sound
indicators and associated data that will allow for the assessment of how
agricultural management practices are affecting soil health over time,” said
Dr. Arthur Allen, principal investigator for the grant and director of UMES’
Chesapeake Water Quality Center.
The grant, Allen said, will fund a project titled,
“Dynamic Soil Properties for Soil Health Assessment,” over the next two years
to collaborate with the NRCS and Alabama A&M University researchers. They will assess the accuracy, repeatability
and usefulness of standard soil health metrics on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and
areas in Northern Alabama for three benchmark soils and dominant land
management systems.
“Any robust set of indicators and associated
data collection, sometimes referred to as a “soil health monitoring network,”
must also provide usefulness and compatibility across multiple regions, soils
and management systems,” Allen said. Research
through the new agreement will build on the NRCS’ existing national soils
database, including water sampling design, field sampling protocols and linking
the research to soil maps.
Allen’s colleagues, Drs. Fawzy Hashem and Amy Collick,
will help oversee the project at UMES where they will identify sampling sites,
coordinate accurate field sampling and supervise various laboratory
analyses. The grant provides a stipend
for a graduate and undergraduate students’ involvement in the project. Collick will also compile, organize and
manage datasets for the project that will be shared with the NRCS’ soil survey
program’s laboratory.
“Dr. Allen’s water quality research team is to be
commended for their efforts and for building a relationship with the USDA’s
Natural Resources Conservation Service to continue these critical research
activities,” said Dr. Moses T. Kairo, dean of UMES’ School of Agricultural and
Natural Sciences. “The information and
knowledge that will come out of the project will be of value to the NRCS and
the holistic soil science and agricultural communities.”
Gail Stephens, agricultural
communications and media associate, School of Agricultural and Natural
Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, 410-621-3850, gcstephens@umes.edu.