Capturing Water and Reducing Floods: Can Healthy Soils Save Society Money?

This discussion about the opportunity to maximize off-farm benefits of soil-health practices at the watershed scale was part of the National Center for Appropriate Technology’s second Soil Health Innovations Conference in March 2022.

The panelists include:
Dianna Bagnall, research soil health scientist at the Soil Health Institute
Juli Obudzinski, sustainable agriculture policy consultant at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
Margaret L Krome, policy program director at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
Julian Reyes, acting Southern Plains director and National Coordinator of USDA Climate Hubs

Krome acts as moderator and provides an overview of the issues. Reyes talks about America’s climate future, resilient agriculture, and soil health, followed by Bagnall who present a discussion paper on “Biophysical Dynamics of Soil Health and Hydrological Ecosystem Services.” Obudzinski presents the discussion paper, “Measuring Societal Benefits of Soil Health: Non-farm Costs to Local Municipalities, Rural Communities, and States.”

This video is produced by the National Center for Appropriate Technology through the ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture program, under a cooperative agreement with USDA Rural Development. ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.