Meet The Man Who’s Helping Lead The Soil Health Effort: An Interview With Dr. Wayne Honeycutt

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Our soil is alive. In fact, a single teaspoon of healthy soil contains more living organisms than there are people in the world. Despite its critical, central role supporting the health of plants, people and the planet, we know relatively little about soil. That’s what Dr. Wayne Honeycutt wants to remedy. Dr. Honeycutt leads the global non-profit Soil Health Institute, working with partners to safeguard and enhance the vitality and productivity of soil, and conducting and translating soil health science into action that can benefit farmers, the environment and society as a whole. Awarded the Hugh Hammond Bennett Award in 2018, Dr. Honeycutt’s interest in agriculture comes from his experiences on his family’s farm and, I know I speak for all of us at Terramera when I say we’re thrilled to be working with him and his team in advancing our understanding and management of soil. Recently, Dr. Honeycutt took the time to share his thoughts on the future of soil health. Here’s some of what he said:????

Tell me more about your personal experience on your family’s farm. I did not grow up on a farm, but instead in a small town in south-central Kentucky. My parents were both teachers, and while my father was a musician and band director, he also had an interest in farming. When I was young he purchased 40 acres about 19 miles out of town and a few years later, an adjoining 80 acres. So, by the time I was a teenager, he had 120 acres to keep his boy out of trouble — at least, some of the time. We partnered to grow tobacco, corn, gardens, and Christmas trees. My most enduring lesson was how working a piece of land leads to it becoming an actual part of you. If any of your readers read Wendell Berry, they’ll know he writes a lot about such a connection. I also learned to have a tremendous level of respect for those who can make a full-time living from farming.

"I wish more people knew that soil is alive, thereby making everyone who manages soil a livestock manager."

What’s one thing you wish more people knew about soil? I wish more people knew that soil is alive, thereby making everyone who manages soil a livestock manager. We gain so many benefits from the activities of soil microorganisms because they influence water availability, nutrient availability, leaching, runoff, climate change mitigation, and more. That means we need to manage our soils to provide that microscopic livestock with food, shelter, and conditions for optimal growth because of the benefits it brings to farmers and the environment.

Why did you start studying soil? When I was an undergraduate student in forestry, I took an introductory soil science course. It intrigued me because I could tell by the way our tobacco grew that the soils on our farm were different, but I didn’t know why. That course opened my eyes, leading me to pursue a minor in soil science while majoring in forestry. The only job opportunity I had with a bachelor’s degree in forestry was an assistantship to pursue a master’s degree in soil science. After laying carpet for minimum wage with a master’s degree, I decided to pursue a Ph.D. where I could explore my interests, and hope for the best. Upon completing that degree I worked my way up to a role leading research with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Wanting to have greater impact and get research into the hands of practitioners, I accepted a position with USDA-NRCS as their Deputy Chief for Science and Technology. When the opportunity arose some five years later to help establish and lead the Soil Health Institute, it felt like a natural transition to fuse the science and practicality of soil health to achieve greater on-farm and environmental benefits.

"When farmers manage their soils to improve soil health, there are benefits to both the farmer and the environment."

The Soil Health Institute is a global non-profit with a mission to safeguard and enhance the vitality and productivity of soil. How can agriculture help with that mission? I’d like to answer it this way: We rely on soils to provide many functions, such as storing water and providing nutrients. Soil health is basically about how well a soil is currently providing those functions compared to what it could provide. For example, is a soil allowing heavy rainfall to infiltrate or is the water running off? If it is infiltrating, the soil is functioning better because it will have more water available to the crop during the next dry period. That water in the soil will also improve nutrient uptake by the crop. By contrast, if the heavy rain runs off the soil, the crop will be more vulnerable to dry spells, and the runoff will take valuable nutrients with it. In this example, the same soil can function well or can function poorly. This is an indication of whether it is healthy or unhealthy. Our opportunity is that we can improve its health through management. When farmers manage their soils to improve soil health, there are benefits to both the farmer and the environment.?

What’s a common misconception about what it means to have healthier soil? It seems to me that a common misconception is that a given level of soil health is the same for all soils. Soil health needs to be assessed within the context of its “inherent” soil properties. One should not expect a silt loam in Iowa to have the same level of soil health as a silt loam in Alabama.????

From what you’ve heard from farmers and growers in your work, what’s one thing that’s preventing adoption of soil replenishing agricultural practices? I believe most farmers do not realize how healthy their soils can become. They’ve been farming the same soils for generations, and if they are receiving a decent yield and income then they may not realize how much healthier their soil can become.?

What’s something about your work right now that is really exciting to you? There are so many things that it is hard to select just one. I’ll go with this — soil health and carbon targets. We have successfully piloted in several states this approach for establishing how healthy a given soil can become and how much carbon it can store. Farmers may not realize how much healthier their soil can become, particularly if it’s been farmed for decades. Establishing soil health and carbon targets will show farmers how healthy their soils can become, how much more water they can store, and how much carbon they can store. We think this will motivate farmers to manage their soils to achieve greater health, building drought resilience, enhancing nutrient availability, increasing net income, and likely increasing yield stability.

You've done research on the economics of soil health. What's the relationship between healthier soil and farmers' bottom lines? The economics research we conducted on 100 farms across nine states showed that adopting regenerative soil health systems increased net income for 85% of farmers growing corn and 88% of farmers growing soybean. Soil health practices reduce input costs (less fuel, less labor), build drought resilience, enhance nutrient availability, increase nutrient uptake by crops, and provide earlier field access after a heavy rain.

What role will technology play in making healthier soil? We have so much to learn about the soil microbiome. I foresee a day when we will understand the functions that particular microbial communities and species play towards building soil aggregates, cycling nutrients, sequestering carbon, and suppressing pathogens that will allow us to select particular cover crops and crop rotations to provide the specific root exudates needed to nurture the soil microbiome for optimal soil health.

"That’s what we do when improving soil health; we are regenerating the soil."

It seems as though interest in regenerative agriculture and soil health is growing. What do you think has led to this renewed interest? I believe there is broader recognition that practices which improve soil health bring numerous environmental benefits such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing nutrient loss to our waterways, and increasing carbon storage; and that focusing on soil health can bring these environmental benefits to scale because improving soil health also increases drought resilience, profitability, field access, and other issues that benefit the farmers and ranchers who are managing all of this land.

I’d also add that I see very little daylight between the concepts of soil health and regenerative agriculture. Soil health is the very foundation for regenerative agriculture, so I often refer to these as regenerative soil health systems. That’s what we do when improving soil health; we are regenerating the soil.?

What are two activities or routines essential to your personal well-being that you can’t do without??

1. I take my rescue hound dog, Ellie Mae, for a hike in the woods every Saturday and Sunday.

2. I meet several friends that I grew up with for a bluegrass festival each year.

?This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Thank you, Wayne, for sharing your expertise. It’s critical we bolster the resiliency of our farms and our food system against droughts and floods while meeting the yields required to feed the world. But we can’t manage what we can’t measure. Farmers may not realize how much healthier their soil can become, particularly if it’s been farmed for decades. By establishing soil health and carbon targets we can help make soil health easier for farmers to quantify.?

Additional Nutrients: What I’m Reading and Listening to

• Regenerative agriculture can not only give farmers the results they’re looking for, but it can also make their farms more resilient in extreme weather.
• We know regenerative agriculture is good for our food … now it’s time for fashion to step up.
• The electronic musician who sold his song rights to pay for his regenerative farm.

Thanks again so much to Dr. Wayne Honeycutt for sharing his thoughts for this edition of the newsletter — and thanks to you for reading along. If you found The Core Question interesting, please subscribe and follow me on Linkedin ... or, better yet, share it with somebody you know!?