“What were they thinking?” It’s a common question asked by agricultural scientists about the design of long-term cropping system experiments. Starting a long-term study is a big investment and having asked those questions ourselves while working with multi-decadal trials, you can imagine how daunting it was to be tasked with setting up a Long-term Agroecological Research and Extension (LTARE) site through the Washington Soil Health Initiative (WaSHI).

The main objective of the Mount Vernon Long-term Agroecological Research and Extension site is to identify and promote management practices that enhance soil health, carbon sequestration, and the environmental and economic sustainability of agricultural systems in western Washington

The first application review has occurred for Sustainable Farms and Fields, a program of the Washington State Conservation Commission with a goal of increasing carbon sequestration and reducing greenhouse gas emissions on farmland, rangeland, and aquaculture tidelands.

Ever wonder who manages the soil sampling data from the State of the Soils Assessment? Or who writes the code that produces our Soil Health Reports?

About a month ago, a review panel discussed funding additional LTARE sites as part of WSU’s Washington Soil Health Initiative (WaSHI). These sites are the core activity of WSU in its role in WaSHI with the other two agencies, the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the State Conservation Commission. These sites represent major agroecological cropping systems or production zones and evaluate the business as usual alongside other treatments, including moonshot approaches to maintain or improve soil health.

We tend not to want to think too hard about the contents of our toilets, much less where they go after we flush. While our waste may be out of sight and out of mind after this point for the average person, in reality, the problem of what to do with our waste isn’t as “flushable” on a larger scale.