Our Mission
SHARE is a cooperative effort between the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center, UW Madison, and the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute to conduct impactful research and outreach efforts focused on soil health.
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Researching and promoting practices that develop soil health is crucial to how agriculture can mitigate climate variability, soil loss, soil compaction, nutrient loss, water pollution, biodiversity decline, energy use, pesticide drift, fine particulate pollution, community decline, income loss, social disparities, and other challenges to agricultural sustainability.
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We are working together, along with farmer and stakeholder partners, to investigate and conduct outreach on profitable, community-supporting, and practical strategies to build agricultural soil health.
This inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional project integrates scientifically grounded and farmer-engaged research and outreach to support these landscape transformations. Its outcome-oriented work will contribute to soil health innovations and adoption in different agricultural systems and at different scales of production in Wisconsin and other Upper Midwestern states.
Program Goals
SHARE is committed to identifying barriers and constraints to the widespread use of soil health practices by diverse farmers and to developing opportunities and remedies to support greater use of those practices to build short- and long-term farm and ecosystem resilience.
Social, Economic, Policy
We aim to identify the barriers farmers face in adopting soil health practices and communicate the societal, economic, and human health benefits and outcomes of soil health practices.
Biophysical
We are working to develop an assessment framework for soil health metrics and to identify soil health building practices for both short- and long-term farm and ecosystem resilience.
Outreach and Participatory
We develop and facilitate participatory processes, including diverse farmers and other transdisciplinary stakeholders/partners, to advance soil health research, outreach, and network-building opportunities.
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