This training, featuring nationally known soil health experts Barry Fisher and Mike Kucera, is split into two sessions. The morning session is designed for new conservation staff (and limited to 10 participants to ensure 1:1 interaction with the instructors) and the mid day session is for both new staff and early career staff to take a deeper dive into soils, soil health, and barriers to practice implementation. The mid-day session is limited to 25 participants. 

First session:  8:30-11:00 AM - new conservation staff 

·         Introduction to soils and soil health 

·         How to communicate these concepts to producers

·         Soil health as a system and not just individual practices – how to stack practices 

·         Hands-on discussion with tillage equipment- what it does to the soil and impact on soil health

·         Roundtable discussion on working with producers on soil health practices

·         Understanding the basics when looking at a soil pit

Second session: 11:00 am – 2:00 pm – new conservation staff AND early career staff 

·         Compaction, infiltration and soil health: Learning from what you see in the soil profile

·         Next Level Soil Health

·         Success roundtable - addressing local soil health challenges

·         Economics of soil health/soil conservation