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Success Story

Conservation Innovation Grant Helps Create Healthy Farms and Soils Across Vermont

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alt="Large cow pasture with a few cows in the distance; rolling Vermont hills showing fall colors in the background"

Partners are using a five-year NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) to study and evaluate the ecological, economic, and social outcomes of incorporating grass-based soil health practices on farms.   

The CIG research team gathers at Philo Ridge Farm in Charlotte, VT, in February to plan and select the farmer cohort.
The CIG research team gathers at Philo Ridge Farm in Charlotte, VT, in February to plan and select the farmer cohort. 
Photo credit: Maggie Donin, Vermont Land Trust.  

The Vermont Land Trust (VLT), in partnership with the University of Vermont (UVM), the University of Vermont Extension (UVM Ext) and Philo Ridge Farm, is using a five-year Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) to study and evaluate the ecological, economic, and social outcomes of incorporating grass-based soil health practices on farms.  

“We believe that grass-fed beef, dairy, and other livestock operations represent a promising opportunity for both young and more experienced producers, but sustainable production may require new management practices in order to increase profitability and recognize benefits to Vermont’s environment and farm economy,” said Annalise Carington, Vermont Land Trust Conservation Innovation Grant Manager. “Despite anecdotal evidence and research on individual practices, there is no large-scale quantitative ecological or economic data showing the outcomes of grazing-based Soil Health Management Systems (SHMS) on soil health and farm productivity and viability.”

A beef herd at a farm in Northeastern Vermont.
A beef herd at a farm in Northeastern Vermont. This farm applied to participate in the CIG research project and this photo was taken on our follow-up visit to assess the farm’s potential for participation. Photo credit: Maggie Donin, Vermont Land Trust. 

Fifteen participating farms, a combination of dairy, beef, sheep, and multi-species grazers, have agreed as part of this project to implement a set of practices combining management intensive grazing, supplemental seeding, and nutrient amendments on all or a portion of their land base.

Farm operators are collaborating with a team of technical service providers to implement these practices, during which time a robust set of data is being collected, including species biodiversity and forage quality, physical and chemical characteristics of the soil, water infiltration, the financial costs and labor associated with implementation, social impacts on the farm, and more on an annual basis.  

Shona Sanford Long and Sarah Danly from the White River Land Collaborative in Tunbridge, VT
Shona Sanford Long and Sarah Danly from the White River Land Collaborative in Tunbridge, VT. Shona leases land to run Flying Dog Farm where she raises beef and lamb. Shona is participating in the CIG research project.  
Photo credit: Maggie Donin, Vermont Land Trust

This project is of vital importance to the state of Vermont, VLT, and its partner organizations. It is their hope that with a better understanding of how these practices change ecological health and farm viability, farmers can be more confident in making management decisions. And just as importantly, they hope this research can inform programs that provide financial and technical assistance for this work, such as NRCS programs and those administered through the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets.  

Working with UVM and Philo Ridge Farm, the Vermont Land Trust hopes to correlate this multi-year dataset with satellite and remote sensed imagery to build an empirical machine learning model that can help predict the outcomes of adopting the studied farming practices across the Vermont farm landscape. 

The CIG program works with partners and agricultural producers to accelerate technology transfer and the adoption of promising innovations to address some of the nation's most pressing natural resource concerns. To learn more about CIG visit our website