The Soil Health and Agriculture Research Extension (SHARE) Farm project started in Logan Center, ND in 2019 to provide opportunities for field-scale, long-term research associated with goals originally assigned to the project by commodity council members. Field-scale research means that cooperating farmers are heavily involved in each project, using their equipment to seed and manage and harvest the location. Research is then conducted by NDSU, within this framework, using sampling and analytical approaches suited to the field variability associated with the project. Long-term sites have high value when assessing how a combination of soil health management approaches can be used to achieve on-farm goals. After all, soil health does not change quickly and issues, such as salinity, can take time to remediate. Multiple faculty members from NDSU’s main campus and Research Extension Centers have come together to assess systems at the SHARE Farm. This allows us to make science-based recommendations to farmers interested in adopting soil health building practices that can be relatively high risk and require specification to each system.

1. Evaluate field-scale soil moisture and temperature under no-till and conventional tillage practices
2. Evaluate field-scale cover crop establishment in each part of the rotation, yield and soil dynamics under (a) no-till/cover crop and (b) conventional tillage/no cover crop treatments
3. Evaluate changes in soil health properties under (a) no-till/cover crop and (b) conventional tillage/no cover crop treatments

1. Data-will be used to support Extension media development (print and online) and activities (field days, workshops)
2. Academic publications and presentations (state, regional and national meetings)

Updated November 29, 2022:
Objectives of the Research
The Soil Health and Agriculture Research Extension (SHARE) Farm project started in Logan Center, ND in 2019 to provide opportunities for field-scale, long-term research associated with goals originally assigned to the project by commodity council members:
1. Evaluate field-scale soil moisture and temperature under no-till and conventional tillage practices.
2. Evaluate field-scale cover crop establishment in each part of the rotation, yield, and soil dynamics under (a) no-till/cover crop and (b) conventional tillage/no cover crop treatments.
3. Evaluate changes in soil properties under (a) no-till/cover crop and (b) conventional tillage/no cover crop treatments.
Field-scale research means that cooperating farmers are involved in each project, using their equipment to seed, manage, and harvest the site. Research is then conducted by NDSU, within this framework, using sampling and analytical approaches suited to the field variability associated with the project. Long-term sites have high value when assessing how a combination of soil health management approaches can be used to achieve on-farm goals. After all, soil health does not change quickly and issues, such as salinity, can take time to remediate.

Completed Work
The site in Logan Center site will be entering its fifth year of monitoring in the spring of 2023 where conservation tillage, no-tillage, and cover crop practices are being evaluated under a pinto bean-corn-soybean-small grain rotation. Throughout the four completed cropping years, data relating to soil temperature, moisture, fertility, and salinity have been monitored. Productivity and quality of the grain crops have been tracked across all treatments and stand establishment and biomass production of the cover crop mixes have been monitored. Additionally, to better understand the impact of cover crops and surface residue on soil temperature and moisture dynamics, equipment to monitor solar energy has been installed. The solar energy equipment, coupled with below-ground sensors allow us to determine the amount of sun’s energy which makes it to the soil to drive processes relating to soil warming and water evapotranspiration.

Preliminary Results
Over the past several years, improvements in soil structure and water infiltration rate have been visually observed in the no-till portions of the field–although more data will be collected to scientifically confirm these observations, they appear to be trending in a positive direction. Yield of the grain crops also show a generally favorable response to the transition to no-till: of the four harvested crops, two crops (pinto beans and soybeans) showed no difference in yield between the tilled and no-till treatments, barley showed increased yield in no-till, and corn had a slight advantage in the tilled treatments. To date, several conclusions can be tentatively drawn from the SHARE Farm project:
1. Soil temperature is, on average, lower and has less daily fluctuation in no-tilled as compared to conventionally tilled systems.
2. No-till systems help to increase soil volumetric water content under most conditions.
3. Grain yield in no-till systems trend close to the yield of tilled systems in this environment.

Work to be Completed
In-field monitoring will continue this spring to track soil moisture and temperature fluctuations across the conservation and no-tillage treatments along with the monitoring of the cover crop and surface residue treatments. Crop productivity and changes in soil health, fertility, and salinity will continue to be monitored as well. As the data collection continues and results from lab analyses are received, data will be analyzed to draw conclusion relating to the impact of tillage and cover crops, on soil health, fertility, total crop productivity, and crop production economics.

For updates on the SHARE Farm project, and other soil health news, visit the NDSU Soil Health webpage (NDSU.edu/soilhealth) or follow Abbey Wick on Twitter (@NDsoilhealth).

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Information regarding soil health building practices can be found on social media and in many of the farm magazines. It’s difficult to sift through information that can be predominately observation-based (and very specific to famers operations who are sharing the information) to find approaches suited to broad-scale agriculture in North Dakota. Science-based, university-vetted information can reduce the risk associated with on-farm adoption of practices. NDSU recommendations on which practices to use in combination to achieve farmer specific goals can increase the chance of a successful outcome for soybean growers.