Frederi Viens aids study to improve soil health and boost crops

Agricultural lenders and crop insurers do not currently offer incentives for farmers who incorporate these practices to improve soil health because they have no research-based economic rationale for doing so, according to Frederi Viens, a professor in the Department of Statistics at Rice University. Meanwhile, he said there is ample evidence that the federal crop insurance program indirectly provides strong incentives to continue practices that are damaging to soil health.