The Soil & Agroecosystems Lab group was well-represented last week at CANVAS, the joint meeting of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). This year’s meeting was held in Portland, Oregon, and consisted of four packed days of cutting edge research talks, posters, keynote presentations, and more.
Congrats to Etienne on this nice news story about our citizen science project, which she developed during her doctoral program! The Great Lakes Cover Crops Project has been profiled by University of Michigan News in an in-depth article and accompanying video.
Read the story and check out some great pictures HERE.
Watch the video HERE.
Beth spent a beautiful fall morning this week collecting deep soil cores from some of our research plots at Kellogg Biological Station with the help of KBS research staff. Our lab group is tracking the movement of nitrogen from fertilizers, including urine-derived fertilizer (UDF), as a part of a project focused on circular nutrient economies.
A new article and visual story in the August 2025 edition of Michigan Research features Will’s dissertation research on cover crop grazing. Read the full story (and see a ton of fantastic photos) here:
It’s Not the Cow, It’s the How: Rethinking Soil, Cattle, and Sustainability
Congratulations to Etienne, whose paper on functional trait variation in cover crops was recently published in Plant and Soil! This research related soil health indicators to variation in shoot and root traits for cover crops planted on 8 farms in Michigan, with the broader goal of optimizing cover crop performance through better site-specific management.
Results from Kent’s isotopic tracer study, which examined how cover crops impact particulate and mineral-associated soil organic matter pools, were recently published in Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry. This project was funded by UM’s Graham Sustainability Institute, and work was performed in collaboration with Timothy James (UM). We also partnered with Dr. Julie Doll (MiAA) to share research findings with the agricultural community in Michigan. Congratulations, Kent!
Find the full paper here:
Read more about Will’s research on the Matthaei Botanical Gardens blog!
Michigan News published a story yesterday on our Healthy Soils, Healthy Waters project. Read all about it here:
Jennifer was recently interviewed about her research, interests and inspirations, and more. Find the link to the full article here:
SEAS Professor Jennifer Blesh: Transformative food systems expert
