Accelerate Your Soil Health - Pilot Project

Client: Ontario Soil & Crop Improvement Association

In 2021, the Ontario Soil & Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) completed the Accelerate Your Soil Health Pilot Project, which was intended to enable producers to “level up” their soil productivity practices of cover cropping and soil testing.

During the pilot, participants met with expert coaches to learn more about these beneficial management practices (BMPs) and how to incorporate them into their farm operations.

Through this innovative pilot, many farmers tried these BMPs for the first time or accelerated their use of these practices. The intent of the project was to support producers in overcoming financial barriers, information and knowledge barriers, and the administrative burden of traditional cost-share funding programs. 

We worked with OSCIA to develop the pilot project, evaluate the pilot project design, and prepare a comprehensive report with recommendations for future agri-environmental cost-share programming.

We supported OSCIA with:

• Developing the pilot project design 

• Compiling a listing of soil health resources

• Creating communication materials to support the promotion of the pilot project 

• Conducting interviews and facilitating a workshop to gather feedback on the pilot project experience

• Developing and distributing a post-project survey to producers to gather their feedback on the pilot and their suggestions for improvement, as well as to explore the main barriers they found hindered BMP adoption

• Analyzing the evaluation findings

• Creating a plain plain-language report highlighting the outcomes and findings from the pilot project and outlining practical recommendations for future agri-environmental cost-share funding programs

A Snapshot of What we Heard

Many participants were new to cover crop adoption, while most soil test participants were familiar with this practice. Despite a range of expertise among participants, many of them learned new strategies to improve soil health on their farms. 

Participants learned about the benefits of cover crops and how to develop successful cover crop programs. Participants in the soil testing stream gained more insights into the difference between fields and farms and the development of soil management zones. 

Many participants were keen to adopt the practices learned throughout the project in the following growing seasons. Many participants also said they were likely to recommend the BMPs to other farmers.

“A lot of the time farmers notice they have a challenge, but they don’t know what to do and where to start. It can be too much trouble to get started. Having a Coach, someone who isn’t trying to sell you anything, brings a lot of value. The Coaches don’t manage but can guide (farmers) and be there to answer questions. The farmer has to recognize the value and learn how to do it. This program is set up in a way to help do that,” says an Expert Coach.

Post-project survey results showed that a need exists for further supports to reduce barriers and increase cover crop adoption and regular soil testing. Desired supports include knowledge mobilization, financial incentives, access to technology and access to local service providers.

The final report is available here.

Is your organization interested in developing a pilot project or practical programming for farmers? Are you interested in evaluating your current program offerings through stakeholder engagement? Our team of professionals can help!

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