Mr. Chandler Fulmer
Master of Soil Science Student

Co-authors: L. Gatiboni (advisor), D. Osmond, A. Johnson, S. Kulesza and H. Mitasova
Moderator: Joseph Burns, MS Student in Soil Science

Status of North Carolina Soil Fertility and Soil Health

Understanding how soil health and fertility metrics change across the varied landscape of North Carolina is an essential step to evaluate our current management practices and serve as a guide for selecting best management practices in the state. The goal of this project is to provide unbiased background data, by gathering a representative sample of soil, that can serve as a baseline to further research in this field for North Carolina. 236 fields in normal agricultural production were randomly selected with an ArcGIS WebMap to be sampled and surveyed by utilizing North Carolina extension offices in 83 counties. The numbers of fields selected per county was weighted on the proportion of field crop acres in that county relative to the total in the state. Total nitrogen (TN), soil organic carbon (SOC), autoclave citrate extractable (ACE) protein, textural analysis, permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), and a North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services soil fertility parameters suite will be measured in laboratory analysis. These data, paired with survey information including soil mapping unit, crop history, tillage system, and fertilizer information will provide a characteristic foundation for further soil health and fertility research in the state.

The Zoom room opens at 3:30 and the seminar begins at 3:40.

Details on accessing the Zoom Room are in the email. Contact Mike Mullen at
mdmullen@ncsu.edu if you need the details.