Soil to Society

Soil to Society

Colleges: CAHNRS, CAS, EFSCOM, VCEA

The Soil to Society (S2S) pipeline strategy aims to create more nutritious, affordable, and accessible foods through: i) the development and delivery of nutritious food products made from improved crop varieties grown within sustainable cropping systems, and ii) the validation of these novel varieties and food products as healthy foods consumed as part of a nutritious diet in the context of human clinical and epidemiological evaluations. Our multi-disciplinary team from WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, College of Arts and Sciences, Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture, and the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine is establishing WSU as a world leader in the broad field of human nutrition, with a focus on identifying connections between modern agricultural innovations, food production and packaging, and health outcomes under “real-world” conditions in diverse global populations. Our research directly addresses the intersection between agriculture, human health, and the environment. The S2S strategy begins as plant breeders, in concert with soil and cropping system scientists, characterize and optimize the nutritional composition of, and crop management strategies for, new varieties of cereals, legumes, pseudo-cereals and seed crops, vegetables, and fruit. The strength leverages the world class crop breeding and agriculture programs with emerging emphasis on health outcomes within the Elson Floyd College of Medicine. This highly interdisciplinary program spans plant breeding and genetics, soil science, hydrologic science, management and cropping systems, food science, and nutrition providing unique opportunities next-generation education ranging from secondary school curriculum to graduate programs.