Soil Health
The Franklin County Natural Resources Conservation District has been working with a team of advisors from UVM Extension, USDA-NRCS, Vermont Healthy Soils Coalition, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets, American Farmland Trust, and others, to create a soil health training course for technical assistance providers. The overarching goal of the training is to better prepare technical assistance providers for the assistance they will be providing to farmers, forest owners, and other land stewards in their roles with Natural Resources Conservation Districts, state and federal agencies, watershed groups, non profit organizations, and other related groups. This course was created to be directly applicable to the landscapes and land stewards in VT and the Lake Champlain Basin in NY.
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Sign up for the Training Course has closed as of December 1, 2023
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WHO IS THIS TRAINING FOR?
This training is for anyone who works with land stewards (including farmers, foresters, residential lands, etc.) to provide technical assistance related to land and soil management. It is aimed at providers in Vermont and the Lake Champlain Basin portion of New York. The goals are for providers to develop their understandings of the current science around soil health, management practices that support soil health (historic, current, and cutting-edge), and site-specific considerations when working with land stewards.
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WHAT WILL I LEARN?
What is soil health, and how do we know if soils are healthy? How do we manage for soil health in our contexts? this will include: Principles of Soil Health and Ecosystem Services, Soil Structure and Chemistry, the Living Soil, Soil Health Assessment Toolbox, Organic Matter and Composts, Cover Crops and Diversifying Cropping Systems, Minimizing Tillage, Livestock Integration and Agroforestry, Managing for Water and Soil Structure, Integrated Pest Management, Soil Health Management Planning, Soil Health Economics and Funding
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WHEN AND WHERE?
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One Fall 2023 Workshop on Tuesday, November 14, 2023: 9 am-2pm at the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) Farm at 1949 East Main Street, Richmond, VT 05477
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12 Winter 2023-2024 Webinars: Online on Tuesdays from 2-4 pm: 12/5, 12/12, 12/19, 1/9, 1/16, 1/23, 1/30, 2/6, 2/13, 2/20, 2/27, 3/5
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Four 2024 Field Season Workshops - TBD
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QUESTIONS?
Please contact us at info@FranklinCountyNRCD.org
This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) under assistance agreement (LC-00A00981-0) to NEIWPCC in partnership with the Lake Champlain Basin Program. NEIWPCC manages LCBP's personnel, contract, grant, and budget tasks and provides input on the program's activities through a partnership with the LCBP. The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of NEIWPCC, the LCBP, or the U.S. EPA, nor does the NEIWPCC, the LCBP or the U.S. EPA endorse trade names or recommend the use of commercial products mentioned in this document.
