Making Soils Data Actionable Webinar Series 2025
More soil tests and data are available to farmers than ever. While this can be empowering, it can also be confusing. New information on soil chemistry, biology, and physics can sometimes be difficult to translate into action.
In this webinar series, we highlight projects across Washington that are using soil data to inform real, on-farm management decisions.
If you’ve been hit with soil data overload, this is the series for YOU.
Farmers, agricultural advisors, extension staff, and decision makers are welcome.
Webinar #1 | Soil physical properties: Compaction
- When: Tuesday, March 11th, 12-1pm PST
- Presenters:
- Haly Neely (Assistant Professor, Washington State University) and
- Natalie Sturm (Graduate Student, Washington State University)
- Description: In this webinar, Haly and Natalie will share their research on soil compaction and the management strategies to reduce it – including how farmers can use similar approaches on their own operations. These WSU researchers will also explain how identifying and managing soil compaction can benefit farmers and crop consultants around Washington state.
Webinar #2 | Precision agriculture technology and data
- When: Tuesday, March 18th, 12-1pm PST
- Presenters:
- Steve Mantle (Founder, Innov8 Ag)
- Linda Neunzig (Agriculture Coordinator, Snohomish County), and
- Nate Krause (Operations Manager, Swans Trail Farms)
- Description: Join us for a case study on how public-private partnerships can be leveraged to democratize soils data and precision agricultural technology. In this talk, you’ll hear from a Washington company, county, and grower, on how working together can lower the barriers to entry for environmental and economic decision-making in agriculture. Learn about new data-informed technology, and the local efforts to bring it to a farm near you.
Webinar #3 | Soil chemistry meets biology: Nitrogen credits
- When: Tuesday, March 25th, 12-1pm PST
- Presenters:
- Rich Koenig (Professor, Washington State University), and
- Savannah Crnick (Resource Planner, South Yakima Conservation District)
- Description: Ever wonder where those nitrogen (N) credits come from and how to use them? Rich will describe the origins, importance, and practical use of N credits in a fertilizer budgeting process. From irrigated to dryland systems, credits are the “money in the soil bank”. You’ll also learn how South Yakima Conservation District implements this knowledge, by using deep soil sampling to support growers in managing their crops, nutrients, and irrigation water.
MSDA Webinar Series 2024
Listen to learn how to take action on soil data and learn about available resources.
Chemical
Adam Peterson, Senior GIS and Science Specialist, Thurston Conservation District
Adam talks about how technical service providers can demystify soil test results and translate them into accessible and actionable recommendations for on-farm nutrient management. Using Thurston Conservation District’s soil testing program as an example, Adam shares share efficient strategies for interpreting a large volume of tests while accounting for farm scale, fertilizer preferences, and crop-specific needs.
Resources
Soil Test Interpretation Guide (EC 1478), OSU
Soil Testing: A Guide for Farms with Diverse Vegetable Crops (EM050E), WSU
Nutrient Management for Sustainable Vegetable Cropping Systems in Western Oregon (EM 9165), OSU
The Nature and Properties of Soil
Estimating Plant-Available Nitrogen Release from Cover Crops (PNW 636), OSU/PNW Extension
Find more information about the Thurston Conservation District
Biological
Lindsey du Toit, Professor and Chair, Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University
Lindsey shares two decades of research and extension on minimizing spinach seed losses to soilborne fungus. Learn from the Chair of the WSU Department of Plant Pathology about the important role that growers have played in doubling the spinach seed production ability of the Pacific Northwest.
Resources
Shedding light on races Fus oxysporum f sp spinaciae
A Soil Bioassay for Predicting the Risk of Spinach Fusarium wilt
Limestone-Mediated Suppression of Fusarium Wilt in Spinach Seed Crops
Putative Effector Genes Distinguish Two Pathogenicity Groups of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. spinaciae
Find more information about the Department of Plant Pathology at Washington State University
Physical
Troy Peters, Professor, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University
In this grower-focused webinar, Troy discusses the importance of soil moisture data and the advantages and disadvantages of different types of soil moisture sensors. Troy explains more about how to interpret and use soil moisture sensor data to maximize profitable irrigation water management.
Resources
Practical Use of Soil Moisture Sensors for Irrigation Scheduling
Soil Health Report Generator
Jadey Ryan, Data Scientist, Washington State Department of Agriculture
This webinar is a demo of the {soils} R package, designed for comprehensive soil health data visualization and reporting. See how we use R and Quarto to create customized, interactive reports to empower each participant in the State of the Soils Assessment to explore and understand their soil data. The {soils} package can be found here.
Resources
Adam’s Making Soils Data Actionable recording
20-min talk Parameterized Quarto reports improve understanding of soil health at posit::conf(2023)
R
RStudio Education: different starting points to begin learning R
R for Data Science (2ed): book by Wickham et al. (2023)
{soils}
{soils} package website: package documentation & tutorials
GitHub repository: source code and files
Quarto
Get Started with Quarto: intro and tutorial
FAQ RMarkdown to Quarto: for Rmarkdown users
20-min technical talk: Parameterized soil health reports with Quarto
Intermediate Quarto Workshop: Parameterized reports with Quarto