The Potato Soil Health Project

The Potato Soil Health Manual is complete!  Find it on the “Reports” tab of this website.  Note that “complete,” in this case, does not mean “finished.”  This is a living document that will grow and evolve as our knowledge of soil health in potato cropping systems expands!

Project researchers and stakeholders met on June 1-2 in Minneapolis to discuss results to date and future directions for the Potato Soil Health Project.  Although this is the last year of project support under the current NIFA grant, we are still awaiting much of the microbiome data, and most of the data analysis, publication, and outreach remains to be done. We worked on coordinating our analysis and publication strategies. In addition, we have applied to NIFA for a second grant, and we discussed lessons from the first round that can be applied to the second, as well as the logistics around maximizing our success in the second round if it is funded.

We have submitted a grant application to NIFA requesting funding to continue work on the Potato Soil Health Project into 2028.  We have accomplished a lot under the current grant, but soil health is a long-term proposition.  In addition, our experience with this project has taught us much, and we believe we have a solid foundation in both research infrastructure and increased expertise to accomplish even more in what we have come to think of as PSHP II.  We want to thank those in the industry who sent letters of support on our behalf.

We held a research meeting on July 20 at the Potato Association of America conference in Missoula, MT.  We discussed what has been accomplished to date in the project, what we expect to accomplish in the no-cost extension year that begins on September 1, and our plans for continuing the project beyond 2023.  We are currently seeking the support of the Potato Research Advisory Committee (PRAC) for a renewal of SCRI funding.  PRAC’s endorsement was critical to our success in securing the initial grant.

At out project stakeholders meeting on March 17 (Zoom link here), in addition to an update on project progress to date, we discussed what needs to happen for the project to continue after the no-cost extension period ends (August 31, 2023).  There will be a Potato Soil Health Symposium at the PAA meeting on July 2023 in Prince Edward Island, Canada, with international perspectives on soil health, the microbiome, and the importance of soil health to the potato products industry. We started planning on a meeting to present the results of this project in March 2023.