The Iowa Learning Farms (ILF) conservation webinar taking place March 26, at noon CDT will feature Ellie Ellis, Ph.D., Ardent Mills Fellow at Colorado State University. Ellis conducts interdisciplinary research on the impacts of regenerative agriculture on soil carbon storage, soil health and agricultural communities.

In the webinar, “An Across-the-Fence Comparison of Soil Carbon Storage on 22 Iowa Farms,” Ellis will share the results garnered from research involving 22 farms across Iowa and Southern Minnesota designed to assess how soil carbon and other properties change under different management systems. She will draw on real-world data and interviews with producers to highlight different practices and management systems that increase organic matter and carbon content in agricultural soils. Ellis will also stress the importance of peer and social networking in driving practice adoption.

“Moving long-term research from test plots to commercial farms provides us with opportunities to assess viability for scaling, and also introduces new insights only possible when the practices are applied on real working lands,” said Ellis. “I am eager to share the results of these studies and to encourage widespread adoption practices shown to be effective in producing carbon storage benefits. Participants in the session should gain a better understanding of which variables drive long-term soil carbon storage on their farms, including erosion, microbial diversity, and practice duration.”

Participants are encouraged to ask questions of the presenters. People from all backgrounds and areas of interest are encouraged to join.