Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Cross-sector collaborations are necessary for transformative food system change. Grain producers are increasingly interested in adopting new soil health practices. However, information is still needed to understand the factors throughout the supply chain affecting adoption. Using data from 25 semi-structured interviews and four podcasts with grain producers, supply chain and government professionals, and researchers, we explore factors that enable and constrain adoption of soil health practices in the US Pacific Northwest with a focus on cover cropping and livestock integration into crop production. Our analysis is framed using an integrated model of the diffusion of innovations and transformational adaptation in agriculture. Results show factors within the institutional, personal, and practical spheres of influence play a role in providing traction or causing friction in the adoption of these soil heath practices and are related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We provide considerations for how to support adoption, including addressing crop insurance barriers, developing creative financing options, developing infrastructure to allow separate storage of crops grown with marketable soil health practices, providing opportunities to connect producers to one another and to markets, communicating benefits across the supply chain from producer to final consumer, developing trusted partnerships, and providing proof of concept that these practices can result in positive environmental, economic, and human health benefits. Results demonstrate the importance of a systems and networked approach when building supply chains.
Kolodinsky et al. (Tue,) studied this question.