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Gregg Sanford is an assistant professor and Hub-funded faculty in the UW–Madison Department of Soil and Environmental Science. He traveled around the world growing up but spent each summer on his small family dairy farm in Viola, Wis. Sanford’s summer experiences growing up stuck with him, and after graduating from New College of Florida in 2002 with a B.A. in Biology (Field Botany) he turned his sights toward farming. His professional development has included private sector agricultural research in Florida, working on one of Wisconsin’s largest and most diversified organic vegetable farms, designing and implementing over 20 on-farm research trials, and more than a decade of experience with long-term, large-scale cropping systems experiments at the University of Wisconsin’s Research Stations.
Graduate student: Gideon Fynaardt (pictured) is a masters student in the Department of Soil and Environmental Science. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in biology with an emphasis on ecological science from Northwestern College in Iowa.
Several farming practices (e.g., cover crops, no-till) are promoted to improve soil health, sequester carbon (SOC), and enhance crop yields and economic returns. However, the efficacy of such practices is highly variable and remains the subject of considerable debate. We believe the aspirational goal of maintaining or enhancing yield and profit while simultaneously building soil health and mitigating climate change through SOC sequestration can be met, but only when approached holistically through ecological intensification (EI).
We will work at the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial (WICST) where a suite of EI interventions was established in 2019. Our goal, to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the productivity, profitability, soil health, and carbon sequestration potential of EI in Midwestern dairy-forage and cash-grain systems will be met by 1) Quantifying yield trends in response to six years of ecological intensification; 2) Comparing the profitability of ecologically intensified systems relative to standard management, and 3) Assessing the impact of EI on deep carbon stocks and sensitive soil health parameters.
By taking a holistic approach to assessing the ecological intensification of Midwestern row crop systems, the proposed research directly addresses Dairy Innovation Hub (DIH) priority area “Stewarding Land and Water Resources” while simultaneously addressing DIH priority area “Growing Farm Business and Communities” by enhancing our understanding of the yield and economic impacts of ecological intensification for WI farmers.
Regular engagement with WICST stakeholders (inc. dairy farmers) will guarantee the relevance of our EI interventions and ensure a high impact of our results.