Progress   

This page documents the background for our hiring and the progress of the Nebraska Soil Health Coalition since founding in 2023. Various highlights and plans are detailed. It is intended to help applicants research the NSHC in submitting your application. We are striving to be a national model and hire the best, possible candidate to lead our initiative. We thank other coalitions whom are providing good models and assisted in the development of this information. We do not intend to overlook anyone and apologize for any oversights. (11.11.24)

About the Nebraska Soil Health Coalition

The Nebraska Soil Health Coalition is a 501(c)3 non-profit. Our vision is a collaborative effort to increase sustainable agricultural production and thriving rural communities. Our purpose is to  advance producer-centered education, outreach, and the adoption of soil health principles to build resilient farms, ranches, and communities across Nebraska.  Our mission is critical because the transition to regenerative agriculture has the potential to improve the long-term economic viability of farms and livestock operations through reduced costs, improved crops and livestock quality, and greater resilience to market volatility and extreme climate events.  It also provides opportunities for new revenue streams for agricultural stakeholders such as rewarding them for carbon capture and storage in the soil and other ecosystem services.  Holistically improving the backbone of the rural-urban communities helps the “bottom line”, promotes environmental stewardship, enhances the quality of life for families and communities, and helps all of us meet human food and fiber needs.

About our hiring process

This is a joint position between Nebraska Soil Health Coalition (NSHC) and Nebraska Community Foundation (NCF).  The NCF is based at Lincoln but our position will be hybrid–we want to hire the best possible employee and help them succeed with their personal situation and needs. We are affiliated because of many reasons but primarily to enhance our ability to impact all parts of Nebraska particularly the rural-urban nexus. Our hiring team will consist of the NCF President and CEO, respectively, and the NSHC Board of Directors.  It will be a consistent, transparent, and equitable process.

Who We Are Looking For

The Network Director (ND) is a passionate professional versed in conservation-based initiatives, fundraising, adult education or other related areas that fit the mission of the NSHC. The ND has a strength/asset-based approach to their work, and thrives in a complex and highly collaborative environment. The title is intentional; we don’t want to simply bring awareness but to make a unique and sustainable impact upon Nebraska.  Economics is always present in the decision-making of persons either directly involved in production agriculture or from a distance as generational changes occur.

The Network Director will work with the NSHC to support the achievement of the mission of the organization and it’s financial wellbeing. The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker, a talented communicator who can synthesize multifaceted information and convey a message that energizes diverse stakeholders in the communities in which we work. All aspects can be building blocks for grant- and funding requests. The Network Director must possess a strong ability to successfully navigate this network to build trusted relationships. The range of individuals and entities working in the soil health space results in a complex landscape. They will discover and nurture shared values that result in the creation and achievement of common goals.  They should be an engaging person who builds and maintains crucial relationships in meaningful and sincere ways.  The collaborations will be developed over time through our three-pronged approach, Producer-2-Producer Learning Communities, Demonstration and Education Site, and the Strategic Visioning Group thus comprising an interlinked Hub (refer to the brochure at nesoilhealth.org). We strive to make a long-lasting difference in soil health adoption, enhancing the lives of the producers, their communities and develop opportunities for talented youth to “grow” their communities.

The Network Director should be detail oriented, manage competing deadlines, fluent in organizational management, as well as develop excellent funding stability including providing a foundation for possible membership. The Director should demonstrate knowledge, training and practical experience that soil- and water health are inherent to the challenges faced by Nebraska producers and the communities they live in. To accelerate the adoption of soil health principles–the Director will be a trusted partner with other groups, agricultural business, lenders and community members.

The Nebraska Soil Health Coalition 2025 budget is $550,000. At present, we have raised monies from at least six partners with funding requests in process with three other partners. A significant annual budget growth is conservatively forecast. Our budget is provided from a diverse set of multi-year public/private/government grants and individual gifts. Funding from NGO’s is presently being developed. The vast majority of our budget is secured and committed for 3-4 years. The Network Director will work with the Board on a team-approach to fundraising and meeting the strategic plan.

This position will be an exempt, full-time position and have NCF employee benefits. The Network Director may be based near Central Nebraska or remotely, but priority will be given to candidates who live in the geography of one or more Hubs. The position will require travel time to Lincoln and South-Central Nebraska (Hub I). Hub II is projected for southwest NE; Hub III, north central NE, etc. based upon partners and funding. This position will hire and guide the educational staffing at Hub I; projected to start 2nd quarter 2025. 

Nebraska Soil Health Coalition is committed to financial transparency and open communication.

Community Based Hub Strategy

Overtime, we envision five community-based Hubs across Nebraska each working in a trusted partnership with like-minded partners. The first hub in South Central Nebraska is our pilot so that we cautiously learn and adjust prior to establishing future hubs. The Hubs will also form the structure for meta-economic metrics to monetize soil health and the ROI from transitioning to Regenerative Systems (suggesting a five year basis).

The South-central Hub encompasses approximately 9 counties around Hastings, Nebraska. We are working with partners in soil health and water quality, along with the overall health and economic well-being for producers and communities in this region. Hub II is being developed for 16 counties in southwest NE thus geographically extending beyond the SC region. We are intentionally focusing on variables that compliment and not be redundant with governmental agencies.

Each of our hubs have three key components resulting in four main outcomes:

These groups are established and are now working together to achieve common goals.

  1. A diverse range of entities impacted and involved in the agricultural business continuum entitled the Stakeholder Visioning Group.

  2. Producer learning and mentoring groups that utilize on-farm research, production data, and economics to promote sustainable and regenerative agriculture principles, and long-term economic and community success for the area.

  3. Field-scale demonstration site for education and success sharing purposes. 

An Educational Facilitator will be hired for each hub. The Network Director will coordinate the the network and nurture the synergistic relationships with stakeholders.

The Four Outcomes:

  • We are determining the economic benefits (pre- and post) of Regenerative Agricultural practices comparing them to standard practices from year one-five (15+/year). We are working to monetize soil health. 

  • We are completing socio-behavioral surveys to understand producers’ approach to agriculture and the adoption of new practices (30+/year).  Gleanings from these surveys and success stories will be shared to help other producers adopt new practices and to inform the public about efforts to reduce risks to the environment and on the benefits of regenerative ag practices.

  • We are establishing soil health benchmarking sites at 3-4 sites to holistically provide better understanding of the complex carbon picture.

  • Quarterly we will produce “Stories of Success” integrating the work in A-C. This is combined with the activities of our three groups and other overarching educational work. We want to be sure that we focus on difference makers, economics and build leadership so that rural-urban communities thrive particularly the youth whom are the lifeblood.

NSHC Background Info and Goals Beyond the Network Ad Specifics

In May of 2023, a group of committed individuals decided to establish an independent, non-profit Soil Health Coalition in Nebraska. The purpose of the Coalition is to advance producer-centered education, outreach, and adoption of soil health principles to build resilient farms, ranches, and communities across Nebraska. The Coalition is chartered in the State of Nebraska as a non-profit organization and has submitted required material to the IRS to become a tax exempt 501(c)3 organization.

Background Resulting in the Formation of the NSHC

In recognition of the need to achieve more rapid and widespread adoption of soil health practices with multiple benefits, the Nebraska Legislature passed LB 243 in 2019. The legislation created a 17-member Healthy Soils Task Force (HSTF) task with developing a Nebraska Healthy Soils Initiative. Three founding members of the NSHC served on the Task Force including the Chair and the Co-Chair. The report can be found here.

The Healthy Soils Task Force concluded that healthier soils produced through best soil management practices improve yield stability, produce greater financial returns over time, reduce the need for chemical inputs, increase water infiltration rates and water storage capacity making soil more resilient to drought, flooding, and erosion, and protect and improve water quality.

The task force also concluded that two significant barriers to adoption of healthy soil management practices by agricultural producers are uncertainty of the positive economic return on investment in healthy soil management practices and the lack of education and information available to a broader audience.

With the general public's growing interest in how food is grown relative to human health and long-term resiliency of our natural resources, greater adoption of healthy soil management practices is beneficial to both rural and urban contingencies. A voluntary grassroots effort to accelerate the means to protect and enhance Nebraska's soil and receive the benefits described in the task force report should be encouraged and supported.

With these well documented goals in mind, in 2022 the Legislature passed LB 925, the Resilient Soils and Water Quality Act which was developed by founders of the NSHC and Sen. Tim Gragert, to authorize funding to hire a Facilitator and form producer learning communities across Nebraska. The legislation authorized funding to hire an independent Facilitator to lead a collaborative effort across Nebraska to organize the producer learning community and assist the producer learning community in acquiring gifts, grants, and sponsorships. The producer learning community is to be composed of active agricultural producers, landowners, and others who have an interest in soil health and water quality.

The Resilient Soils and Water Quality Act identified the following purposes as necessary to accelerate the voluntary, grassroots effort to protect and enhance Nebraska’s soil and work to achieve the benefits described in the Task Force report.  Initiate first steps to accelerate the use and scope of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for healthy soil management practices including:

  • Protect and improve soil and water quality throughout the state.

  • Protect the public’s health and enhance agriculture production and profitability.

  • Address soil health economics, resource stewardship, and managerial and environmental issues.

  • Increase awareness, education, and promotion of healthy soil BMPs through producer– to – producer, peer – to – peer, and mentoring relationships, networking, and sharing of technical information. 

  • Provide observational proof of healthy soil benefits through access to demonstration and research farms and data.

Furthermore, the Healthy Soils Task Force Report recommended the following strategic goals to advance producer-centered education, outreach, and adoption of soil health management systems across Nebraska:

  1. Establish the Nebraska State Soil Health Hub with Regional Proving GroundsThe Soil Health Hub facilitates coordination, collaboration, and communication among existing soil health efforts in partnership with producers and non-operating landowners. The Soil Health Hub will be a mechanism to bring all soil health stakeholders together, build upon and enhance existing efforts, and create a strategic vision for shared implementation.

  2. Form a Nebraska Producer Learning Community The Learning Community will complement the Soil Health Hub by being an organized community of progressive soil health producers. Peer-to-peer relationships will aid in improving and advancing farm economics, resource stewardship, and the management of environmental issues on working farms and ranches.

  3. Develop the Next Generation of Soil Health Practitioners It is imperative to build the systems and the frameworks to encourage, recruit, and train young people who are interested in careers in soil health. We need to facilitate the development of the next generation of farmers, ranchers, technicians, conservationists, educators, entrepreneurs, agronomists, agribusiness workers, and leaders to ensure a productive and sustainable future for Nebraska.

  4. Recruit $50,000,000 in Additional Soil Health Funding and Incentives Over the Next 10 Years Corporate, public, and private groups are committed to helping implement soil health practices. Our objective is to recruit these funds to be used by producers to learn and implement soil health practices. The Nebraska Soil Health Hub will act as an economic development engine to recruit funding sources to promote soil health adoption in the state. Grants, industry partnerships, carbon and environmental incentive programs, and other funding sources will be sought.

  5. Establish Nebraska Soil Health Measurements and Benchmarks Appropriate criteria or metrics need to be established that reflect the soil health status of a field. There is a current lack of metrics used by all to measure and manage soils to improve soil health. The HSTF is recommending the formation of a Soil Health Measurements and Benchmarks committee that will be tasked with establishing a standard set of soil health measurements for Nebraska, determining the current benchmark levels of soil health in our state, and develop a suite of tools that bring together the best and most practical key performance indicators of soil to measure the effectiveness of the management system being used.