The Dickinson College Farm: Land Management Over Time
Claire Persichetti
An Introduction to the College Farm
History of the farm
Dickinson College owns approximately 180 acres of agricultural land outside of Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania. The land was donated
to the college during the 1960s and starting in 2007, 6 acres of that land were converted to active vegetable production under the
direction of the college. Currently, Dickinson continues to manage 6 acres in active production while the remainder of the land is rented
to a dairy which cultivates the land for corn and soy crops as well as pasture land.
Farming techniques
The Dickinson College farm implements management strategies that seek to improve soil quality and fertility and decrease
erodibility. One of the primary techniques used to accomplish these goals is contour plowing, or the practice of plowing a field following
its elevation contour in order to prevent soil erosion and nutrient loss via runoff. This best management technique, however, has not
always been implemented. In the early- to mid-20th century it was common for farmers plow fields without any sort of accommodation
for the underlying topography. These techniques can lead to serious soil erosion issues, which in turn can lead to fertility depletion due
to the loss of the nutrient-rich and biologically active surface layer.
What are the properties and distributions of the different soil types found at the Dickinson College Farm? How
have land management techniques changed from the 1930s to the present? What effect, if any, does a change in
farming technique have on the soil?
Problem:
Methodology
• Soil types were rendered and the dominant soil orders were identified based off of total percent area
• Lidar data was used to generate a flow direction raster in which flow direction was calculated by determining the relationship of
each cell to its steepest downslope neighbor
• Flow accumulation was calculated using the flow direction raster to determine the accumulation of water flow into each raster
and current aerial images of the college farm were georeferenced and the generalized type of land cover was digitized
Foundation of Fertility: The Soils of the Farm •• Historical
Erosion channels were determined visually from the aerial photographs and digitized
Five main soil types were identified at the farm: Duffield silt
loam A and B, Huntington silt loam, and Neshaminy gravelly
loam B and C. The grade given to each soil type, e.g. A, B, and
The most apparent change in land
C, correspond to the steepness of the slope on which they are
found. All soils found at the college farm are between a
management from the 1930s to the present is
gravelly silt loam and a silt loam. A summary soil characteristics
a shift in field shape from rectangular to
can be found in Table 1.
An analysis of the connections between surface water flow, angled according to the topography. In the
1930’s, no apparent accommodation was
slope, and the dominant soil type yields the following
conclusions:
made to shape the field to match the
• Soil type follows elevation contours and rock type
underlying topography. Starting in the 1940’s,
 Soil types that are categorized as “silty” (Du and Hu)
however, changes in bed shape indicate that
have a sedimentary parent material while soils
categorized as gravelly silty loam (Ne) have an igneous plowing began to follow elevation contours.
parent material
This trend continues up until the present,
 Soil types follow contour lines and slope steepness
where the fields of the Dickinson College farm
• Surface water flow follows topography and areas that have
clearly correspond to the topography.
the highest concentration of flow correspond to soils with a
fine particle size
Land Management Then and Now
Results
Table 1. Dominant Soil Types and Characteristics
Map
Unit
Soil Name
Duffield Silt Loam, 3DuB 8% slopes
Duffield Silt Loam, 8DuC 15% slopes
Huntington Silt Loam,
HuA 0-5% slopes
Neshaminy Gravelly
Silt Loam, 8-15%
NeC slopes
Neshaminy Gravelly
NeB Silt Loam, 3-8% slopes
Total
Acres
Percent
Area
101.53
36.49
59.39
21.35
54.16
19.47
18.63
6.7
18.03
6.48
Agricultural
Significance
Parent Material
Prime
agricultural soil
Residuum weathered
from limestone
Well Drained
Prime
agricultural soil
Colluvium derived
from limestone and
shale
Well Drained
4% organic matter
Potentially
Highly Erodible
Prime
agricultural soil
Residuum weathered
from diabase
Well Drained
2% organic matter
Potentially
Highly Erodible
Drainage
A-Horizon Organic
Matter
Erodibility
3% organic matter
Potentially
Highly Erodible
Decade
Total Erosion Channel Length
(feet)
The effect of changes in
land management technique
0
2011
have on the soil can be
4919
1967-72
assessed visually by the
length of erosion channels
2262.5
1957-62
visible in aerial photographs.
2617.1
1937-42
The photograph
representing 1967-72 has
the greatest length of visible erosion channels, while 1937-42 has the
second greatest, 1957-62 has third greatest, and 2011 had none.
While theses findings do not directly correspond with the hypothesis
that there is a linear relationship between increased contour farming
and decreased erosion, it is still possible to suggest that a positive
relationship does exist between area farmed using contour plowing
and decreased erosion.
References
USDA (2011) Web Soil Survey. websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov.
Penn Pilot Imagery
DCNR
US Department of Transportation
Bing Maps
Coordinate System: NAD 1983 UTM Zone 18N; Projection: Transverse Mercator
Created 12/13/11