Soil Health Economic and Environmental Case Study Tool Kit 

Updated: Sept. 28, 2022

Fill out the form below for FREE access to American Farmland Trust’s Retrospective Soil Health Economic Calculator (R-SHEC) Tools for row crops and almonds and the associated questionnaire and training resources, known as the Soil Health Economic and Environmental Case Study Tool Kit. 

The Row Crop R-SHEC Tool analyzes the on-farm costs and benefits of adopting reduced tillage, cover crops, and/or a change in nutrient management, or solely the adoption of a conservation crop rotation (i.e., diversification of crop rotation). The crops that can be analyzed include barley, corn grain, corn silage, grain sorghum (milo), hay, oat, soybeans, and wheat. The Almond R-SHEC Tool analyzes the costs and benefits of adopting a change in nutrient management, cover crops, mulching, and/or compost application. 

With this Soil Health Case Study Tool Kit, you will be able to find a “soil health successful” row crop farmer or almond grower in your area to interview and then create your own retrospective soil health case studies estimating the economic, water quality, and climate benefits associated with the producer’s use of soil health practices.  AFT’s hope is that one day, our fellow conservationists in every farming county in the country will publish a case study featuring at least one “soil health successful” producer, thereby showing other producers in the area that “it too can be done here.”  Filling out the form will also allow us to contact you with updates to the resources. 

UPDATES: 

In September 2022, we re-released the Tool Kit with the following updates to the R-SHEC Tools: 

• Updated to 2021 prices  
• Added new tips to better assist users 
• Added new row crops, including oats, grain sorghum (milo), barley, and corn silage 
• Included new guidance on analyzing a Conservation Crop Rotation in the row crop R-SHEC Tool 
• Adjusted net income values used on the Conservation Crop Rotation tab in the row crop R-SHEC Tool 
• Updated the Almond Tool to include University of California Davis almond operations’ cost data for user reference 

And we uploaded printer-ready versions of the 2022 AFT soil health case studies to the Tool Kit alongside the previously published case studies. 

HIGHLIGHTS: Included in the Tool Kit are slide decks and video links from two training events (a July 2020 SWCS Workshop on the Row Crop Tool Kit and a February 2021 Almond Tool Kit Webinar).  The videos are found at the bottom of AFT’s Soil Health Case Study Methods webpage. 

NOTE: AFT would appreciate an appropriate attribution should you use any of these methods. Please refer to our Terms of Use document in the Training Materials folder. 

Below is a complete list of materials by folder on SharePoint that you will instantly gain access to upon completion of the form.  Download the folders to your computer and/or bookmark the link in your browser so you do not have to fill out the form again. 

TRAINING MATERIALS 

• Printer-ready AFT Soil Health Case Studies 
• Soil Health Case Study Tool Kit Terms of Use 
• Soil Health Case Study Tool Kit Materials List 
• Row Crop Case Study Tool Kit Training Session Syllabus: 2020 SWCS Workshop 
• Row Crop Training Session PowerPoint: 2020 SWCS Workshop 
• Almond Case Study Tool Kit Training Session Syllabus: 2021 AFT-ABC Webinar 
• Almond Training Session Economic Methods PowerPoint: 2021 AFT-ABC Webinar 
• Almond Training Session Environmental Analysis Methods PowerPoint: 2021 AFT-ABC Webinar  

METHODS TO IDENTIFY A "SOIL HEALTH SUCCESSFUL" PRODUCER   

• Criteria for Selecting “Soil Health Successful” Producers 
• Case Study Introduction & Consent Form for the Producer 
• Row Crop Pre-Interview Form 
• Almond Pre-Interview Form 
• Tips for Conducting the Interviews 
• Tips for Obtaining and Selecting Photos   

ECONOMIC METHODS 

• Row Crop R-SHEC Questionnaire (Word) 
• Row Crop R-SHEC Tool (Excel) 
• Almond R-SHEC Questionnaire (Word) 
• Almond R-SHEC Tool (Excel) 
• Almond R-SHEC Tool Machinery Costs and Default Prices (PDFs) 
• Row Crop R-SHEC Tool Machinery Costs and Default Prices (PDFs) 
• Almond Orchard Budgets from UC Davis (PDF) 
• PBA Table Suggested Wording Edits (Excel) 

ENVIRONMENTAL METHODS 

• Row Crop NTT-COMET Data Intake Form Developed by AFT (Excel) 
• ​​​​​​​Almond NTT-COMET Data Intake Form Developed by AFT (Excel) 
• Tips to Tweak Dropdown Menus in NTT-COMET Data Intake Form (Word) 
• Tips for Analyzing COMET Results (Word) 
• Demonstration of Analyzing COMET Results (Excel) 
• NTT Data Requirement Form Developed by Tarleton State University (PDF form) 
• COMET-Farm Data Intake Form by Colorado State University (Excel) 

METHODS FOR WRITING AND PRODUCING A CASE STUDY 

• Case Study Template & Writing Guide 
• Tips for Obtaining Farmer Review 
• ​​​​​​​Tasks & Hours Estimates for Producing One Case Study