image description: a black cow with white on her head and on her legs stands in a pasture near a barn and looks towards the camera, under a grey sky

Through a project formally titled, “Dairy Soil & Water Regeneration: building soil health to reduce greenhouse gases, improve water quality and enable new economic benefits", a team of UVM researchers led by Dr. Joshua Faulkner is engaging in a six-year study to improve the environmental impacts of the dairy industry.   

 

The goal of this six-year project is to understand if dairy feed production systems using advanced soil health management practices can sequester as much carbon as they emit, essentially becoming ‘net zero’.  In addition to quantifying soil carbon sequestration, the study will also evaluate soil health, surface and subsurface water quality, greenhouse gas emissions from the soil, and crop yield.  Climate, soils, and farming systems are different throughout the country, and UVM’s portion of the project will focus on the Northeast, and more specifically, Vermont.  Soil health management practices investigated will include cover crops, no-till, manure injection, and usage of low-phosphorus manure.

More information about the project

image description: a green grassy field with dried post-harvest corn stalks among the growing plants

 

Interested in knowing more about the Center's work or do you have a question we haven't answered here?  Contact us via email  or  802-656-5459 and we'll do our best to help.

image description: a black and white illustration of rolling hills, villages, farms, grazing animals

Contact

Joshua Faulkner, Principal Investigator, Farming & Climate Change Coordinator, 802-656-3495 or joshua.faulkner@uvm.edu

Carol Adair, Co-Principal Investigator, Rubenstein School for the Environment & Natural Resources carol.adair@uvm.edu

Eric Roy, Co-Principal Investigator, Rubenstein School for the Environment & Natural Resources eric.roy.1@uvm.edu

Kirsten Workman, Co-Principal Investigator, UVM Extension Agronomy Outreach Professional, kirsten.workman@uvm.edu

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