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CSU and ENRICHES expand soil-moisture network and soil-health research with federal funding
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Summary
CSU researchers and the ENRICHES center described a regional soil-health research network, the Colorado Open Soil Moisture Monitoring Network funded with $1.45 million to expand sensors to about 50 sites, and ongoing soil-health field trials and the Soil-to-Supper initiative.
Researchers from Colorado State University and the ENRICHES soil-innovation center told the committee about an expanding soil-health research program and a near-term sensor network intended to improve drought resilience and irrigation decisions.
Helen Silver (co-director, ENRICHES) summarized the center's work connecting science, practice and community across the Rocky Mountain region and described how the Colorado Soil Health Program previously supported nearly 400 producers. She said the program has attracted significant funding and local demonstration partnerships but that some funding was recently lost, creating a pause in some activities.
Steve Blecker, research soil scientist at CSU, described the Colorado Open Soil Moisture Monitoring Network, which received $1,450,000 in congressional-directed spending to expand soil moisture monitoring and CoCoRaHS partner capacity. "We have currently installed sensors at more than 40 sites and are on our way to the goal of 50 sites," he said. The network integrates (SNOTEL, COAGMET, RAWS and other networks) onto an open data platform (Quench) to provide near-real-time soil-moisture observations to researchers, policymakers and producers.
Megan Machmuller (CSU) detailed the Colorado Discovery Farms and Ranches Initiative and the regional soil-health inventory, including 35 field sites across the region and deployment of soil-moisture sensors and weather stations in producer fields. She described research on soil biological indicators and efforts to model soil moisture with texture and ET inputs to inform irrigation decisions.
Speakers also described a Soil-to-Supper initiative to test whether soil-health practices influence crop nutritional quality; the team is preparing an initial grant application targeting peppers, spinach, carrots and grains.
Committee members asked technical questions about sensor depths (networks use arrays ranging from ~2 inches to ~40 inches, depending on station type) and whether soil sensors are useful for irrigation scheduling; presenters said sensors can inform decisions but extrapolation depends on field variability and sensor placement.
