Could healthier soil be the key to feeding the world?

When you drive across rural Tennessee, it’s noticeable how much of our state is still in farmland.

Farms represent a big portion of Tennessee’s total acreage: more than 40 percent. About 68,000 farms contribute about $50 billion in economic impact.

Farms are the backbone of Tennessee and big contributors to our way of life. Soon, they will have to be even bigger contributors.

The world is facing a future in which food supplies may be strained by a rapidly expanding population.

By 2050, we’re on track to increase to a world population of nearly 10 billion — about a 25-percent increase from now. To feed that many people, global food production will have to increase by 60 percent.

How can we avert future food shortages — and not harm the health of the surrounding environment?

We will have to rely on our farmers as never before. And cutting-edge science and conservation will play a key role.

Soil health is the next frontier in agriculture. Soil health is the capacity of soil to function as a strong and vital ecosystem that sustains healthy plants—and ultimately animals and people.

Healthier soils can improve soil fertility, which is important to farmers who work on tight profit margins.

The Nature Conservancy is working collaboratively with leaders in agriculture to improve soil health in ways that strengthen farm operations and profits while also bringing environmental benefits to us all.

Together with farmers, we are working to expand the adoption of three key farming practices to improve soil health:

❚ Conservation tillage (often called “no-till” farming, which avoids turning the soil before planting)

❚ Cover cropping (noncash crops planted to suppress weeds, control erosion and provide other benefits)

❚ Precision farming (using timed computer technology to deliver water, fertilizers and pesticides precisely when needed)

Healthier soils don’t just offer higher crop yields. They deliver other key benefits, such as reduced erosion, higher soil moisture content that fights the effects of drought, better water quality in neighboring rivers and streams, and mitigation of greenhouse gases.

Nationally, The Nature Conservancy is supporting a farmer-led, sciencedriven initiative by the National Corn Growers Association known as the Soil Health Partnership.

This program has a network of more than 100 farm demonstration sites testing practices to optimize yields and soil health.

Additionally, Nature Conservancy has published a new road map for national soil health called reThink Soil quantifying how new soil health practices can improve bottom lines for farmers, while improving yields and delivering better protection of our environment.

The Nature Conservancy’s West Tennessee Program Director, Dr. Jeff Fore, was a key contributor to that study.

Here in Tennessee, we’re working with farmers to expand the Soil Health Partnership to our state. We’ve found that Tennessee farmers are already on the cutting-edge of the soil-health movement with the highest adoption rate of no-till agricultural production in the nation at more than 75 percent.

This widespread adoption of no-till farming has reduced erosion by a factor of four, keeping Tennessee’s streams and rivers cleaner and healthier.

In the last century, new technological advances enabled farmers to feed a world population that more than tripled. With the latest advances in soil health science — and with widespread adoption — we stand a good chance of making sure America doesn’t go hungry in this century.

Holt Shoaf is a member of the Board of Trustees for The Nature Conservancy in Tennessee. He grew up in the family farming business in Milan, where he continues to grow cotton, corn, wheat and beans. Alex Wyss is director of conservation for The Nature Conservancy in Tennessee.