INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — For more than 30 years, Barry Fisher has worked for the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Indiana, helping steer farmers toward good conservation practices.

In that time, some Hoosier producers have apparently taken advice from NRCS, area soil and water conservation districts and other organizations, as the number of acres in cover crops in Indiana has topped 1 million, second only to Texas. Seventy-seven percent of the state’s corn acreage and 82 percent of soybeans are in no-till.

Despite those numbers, Fisher has seen hesitation on the part of some farmers to make changes geared toward improving their soil’s health.

“There’s always a percentage that won’t change regardless of what evidence is presented to them,” explained Fisher, state soil health specialist for NRCS. “I’d say 40 to 50 percent of farmers (in the state) are under a soil health system. There’s a lot of interest, but change is slow.”

Good health helps the soil work at full capacity, he said. Practices such as cover crops, no-till and nutrient management all aid in making the soil resilient and better able to handle more intense production and droughts or excessive rain.

“Most farmers, when you talk about improving soil health, they get that,” Fisher noted. “They know the benefits of organic matter; that all makes sense to them. We try to help them make cropping system changes by offering technical and financial support. We also try to put them in contact with other farmers.”

Producers have a few reasons why they may be apprehensive to change their way of farming, he said.

“They’re currently using equipment for the system they have in place,” Fisher said. “To retool is an investment. Many will talk about the timing of planting cover crops. In the fall, they have a lot of acres to harvest and they have stocks to manage. They don’t think they have time to get a cover crop established ... They’re also getting mixed messages. They hear from NRCS about soil health and how no-till and cover crops are good, but then another source might tell them maybe those systems aren’t as good as they’ve been told.”

Family history may also play a role, he said. “They’ll say their grandfather did it this way and their father did it this way, and they were able to keep the farm going,” he said. “They’re really reluctant to change that.”

Producers often ask Fisher where they should start if they are interested in improving their soil’s health. He will list the four basic principles of soil health, which include disturbing the soil less and keeping the soil covered by use of no-till and cover crops. Diversification of crops is also a key, as is a focus on keeping a continuous living root. “If farmers understand those four principles, they can integrate them into their management practices,” he explained.

The Soil Health Partnership is in its second year of creating a network of farmers who will help demonstrate conservation techniques on their fields, said Nick Goeser, partnership director. Twenty farmers will be added annually over the organization’s first five years of funding. Those farmers host field days, which allow for communication at the local level, he noted.

“Whatever the farmer is doing, we keep the same, but we add conservation practices such as no-till, strip-till, cover crops and nutrient management,” Goeser said. “We want to foster peer communications and want to get to the point where we can make recommendations based on the locale.

“Farmers can highlight what they’re doing and what has worked and hasn’t worked. We do that so others don’t have to try to jump through the same hoops.”

About 80 percent of the organization’s field days are in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, where the main crop production acres are located, he explained. Other field days are in Ohio, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin. A recent event in Allen County, Ind., drew more than 100 farmers representing about 1 million acres, according to partnership officials. “I probably shouldn’t be surprised, but I am surprised farmers have an interest and a willingness to open up their farms and allow people to come and talk about what they’re doing,” Goeser said. “But they want that proof these techniques work and they want that proof in their areas. They want to know how to make it work in that area.”

For more about the partnership, including a list of future field days, visit www.soilhealthpartnership.org

Additional information on soil health may be found on the NRCS website, www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/soils/health