Soil Health

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Event Date
August 08, 2017

Join the CCOF Foundation and the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) for a webinar on the relationship of soil health and soil organic matter in organic farming systems. 

Are you looking for the latest information on cultivating healthy, living soil? Curious about the most recent research on cover crops and tillage strategies? This webinar will present recent research on soil health, as well as detail practical applications that organic growers can use to build healthy soils on their operations. 

Many organic farmers strive to cultivate healthy living soil. This webinar will focus on information from Soil Health and Organic Farming, a series of educational guides recently published by OFRF. Authors Joanna Ory and Mark Schonbeck will review the most recent research on different practices—such as cover cropping, tillage strategies, and the use of soil amendments—to explore how organic growers can build healthy soils on their operations. This webinar will provide practical guidelines for growers, as well as more in-depth analysis of research. Please come with questions, as ample time will be reserved for questions and answers.

About Our Speakers and Partners

Joanna Ory believes organic agriculture is essential to protecting the environment and public health. Having researched the impacts of pesticides on human health and the environment for her doctorate in environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, she is excited to support organic farming and positive changes in the food system at OFRF. Ory spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar in Italy performing research on environmental policies and farmer decision-making. She was a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture fellow, having directed a project on herbicide use and water quality in Wisconsin. Ory is dedicated to equity and health in the food system, and served as a University of California Global Food Initiative Fellow working on food equity in 2014-2015. Ory is also a passionate educator, and teaches classes at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is excited to work with and learn from farmers and researchers at her work at OFRF.

Mark Schonbeck has worked for decades as a researcher, consultant, and educator in sustainable and organic agriculture. He has participated in on-farm research on mulching, cover crops, minimum tillage, and nutrient management for organic vegetables. Schonbeck also participated in a USDA Conservation Innovation Grant aimed at integrating sustainable and organic agriculture into USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service programs. Schonbeck helps edit the Virginia Association for Biological Farming (VABF) quarterly newsletter and serves as policy advocacy liaison between VABF and National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. He has collaborated with OFRF on a number of projects, including OFRF’s Soil Health and Organic Farming educational guides.

Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) works to foster the improvement and widespread adoption of organic farming systems. OFRF cultivates organic research, education, and federal policies that bring more farmers and acreage into organic production.

This webinar is a collaboration between the CCOF Foundation and OFRF.