Posts Tagged: healthy soil
Celebrate Healthy Soils Week, Dec. 6-10
Learn and celebrate Healthy Soils Week with the UC Master Gardener Program and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Dec. 6-10! Healthy Soils Week is full of resources, virtual activities, and at-home projects to check out.
Soil quality is critical to healthy plants and is a vital part of our living ecosystem. Soil is alive with organisms that slowly grow or change depending on what is added, how the soil is used, and environmental conditions. Soil health, much like our own, is best improved gradually over time so focusing on regular or constant improvement helps achieve and sustain soil health. Adding certain practices into your gardening routine, such as incorporating organic matter, can be a great place to start.
For more UC ANR information about healthy soils for a healthy California visit: ucanr.edu/sites/soils.
2021 Healthy Soils Week Event Highlights
The California Department of Food and Agriculture and its many partners have teamed up to highlight healthy soils activities on the farm and at home. Find a full list of partners participating in Healthy Soils Week and a calendar of this year's online activities at: cdfa.ca.gov/healthysoilsweek.
Monday, Dec. 6:
- NRCS Rainfall Simulator Demonstration - Hosted by California Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS). The Rainfall Simulator provides a demonstration of how practices such as no-till farming, cover crops, and prescribed grazing benefit soil health and improve the water cycle on cropland and rangeland. Presented by Dr. Kabir Zahangir, NRCS Regional Soil Health Specialist. This demonstration includes discussion of topics such as soil structure, aggregate stability, and infiltration.
Tuesday, Dec. 7:
- Soil Health Connection – Topic of the Day: The Soil Health Connection is a collection of videos on soil health and related topics. Liz Harper from Colusa County Resource Conservation District and Sarah Light, a UC ANR Farm Advisor, have put together a series of interviews with individuals who are actively involved in improving soil in the Sacramento Valley and beyond. A new video will be featured each day of Healthy Soils Week.
Weds., Dec. 8:
- A Walk Through the Soil Tunnel: Hosted by California NRCS. The Soil Tunnel is an educational tool designed to teach and promote the importance of soils and soil health. It illustrates through the use of images, the important functions of the soil. Through this interactive soil exhibit, audience of all ages can view the world below the ground by walking through the Tunnel. Presented by Luis Alvarez, California NRCS Soil Scientist. This video takes the audience on a walk through the soil tunnel to “unlock the secrets in the soil”.
Thurs., Dec. 9:
- Composting for At-Home Gardeners: Here's a tip for gardeners! By using compost and organic matter, you can reduce plant water needs by as much as 30 percent. Learn more about what compost can do for urban and home soils with the Save Our Water campaign.
Friday, Dec. 10:
- Soil Ribboning with Mikie McDonnell: California Rangeland Trust Stewardship Specialist, Mikie McDonnell leads us in a soil ribboning activity. This kid-friendly activity will teach participants more about what makes up the soil around them. Grab a cup of soil and get ready to get your hands dirty!
Ask your local UC Master Gardener
Growing and supporting soil health is something all of us can contribute to whether we have a full landscape to work in, a small patio, or a community garden plot. For more gardening help and local county resources, click here to Find a Program. You will be redirected to your local county website and contact information. UC Master Gardener volunteers are available to help answer questions for FREE about your gardening zone, pests, composting, and the soil in your area.
Follow us on our Facebook or Twitter channel, or by using the hashtags #HealthySoilsWeek2021 #HSW2021.
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Walking the Avocado Area of Cal Poly SLO
Virtual Avocado Field Day 2021
Zooming to Healthier Trees and Soils
April 14, 2021 (1 - 3pm)
Presented in partnership with the California Avocado Society, Inc.,
California Avocado Commission, and UC Cooperative Extension
as part of the California Avocado Growers Seminar Series
and the CDFA Healthy Soils Program
Speakers
Pruning strategies for optimum yield and quality
Gabriel Filipe, Sr Director of CA Sourcing and Farming, Mission Produce
Trialing new rootstock varieties
Lauren Garner, Professor of Horticulture, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Scouting for pests and updates on biological pest control
David Headrick, Professor of Entomology, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Building berms for hillside orchards
Johnny Rosecrans, Sr Farm Technician, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Cover crops and soil health
Charlotte Decock, Asst Professor of Soil Science, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Moderators
Ben Faber, Soils/Water/Subtropical Crops Advisor, UC Cooperative Extension
Claire Balint, Interim Director, Cal Poly Center for Sustainability
Special thanks to the Brock Center for Agricultural Communication
Video recordings will be available on this website after the virtual live event
For questions, please email cfs@calpoly.edu
avocado fruit
Consumers are driving a move to more sustainable cotton farming in California
Consumers who purchase luxury cotton textiles want more than cool, soft, absorbent fabric. Increasingly, they demand clothing made from fiber grown using ecologically sound practices and they're willing to pay for it, said speakers representing the textile industry at a UC Cooperative Extension webinar on Healthy Soils for Healthy Profits.
A recording of the three-hour Sept. 17 webinar – which features clothing manufacturers, farmers and scientists – may be viewed on YouTube at https://youtu.be/rEm8pjbbnaE.
At the beginning of the webinar, UC Cooperative Extension conservation agriculture specialist Jeff Mitchell recalled the tragic 1991 dust storm on the west side of Fresno County, which reduced visibility on Interstate 5, causing a 104-vehicle pile-up that took 17 lives. The devastating accident foreshadowed debates about agriculture's role in reducing dust emissions, he said.
“It turns out that air quality was just the beginning,” Mitchell said. “There is now a whole cascade of expectations that buyers, consumers and the public are demanding of farmers about how food, fiber, feed and fuel crops are actually produced.”
Speakers from non-profit and commercial fashion and fiber organizations said they are anxious to get access to cotton grown using practices that promote soil health and sequester carbon to give their products climate-change mitigation cachet.
“What we envision when we look at the fields is groundcover year-round. Living roots in the soil year-round,” said Rebecca Burgess, director of Fibershed, a California non-profit organization that develops regional and regenerative fiber systems. “No-till or strip-till practices have garnered interest to protect soil from disruption, to avoid breaking up fungal networks. To produce cotton in a system that isn't eroding top soil.”
Wrangler jeans is a clothing brand that has successfully incorporated sustainably produced cotton into its products. The company worked with a group of Tennessee cotton farmers and the Soil Health Institute to produce 100% sustainable cotton jeans and sell them in its Wrangler Rooted Collection. Men's jeans in the collection run about $100 a pair. Ordinary cowboy cut Wrangler jeans range from $39 to $41 a pair.
Burgess said the fashion and textile industry is organizing itself to align with the 1.5-degree pathway, a target set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that limits the rise in global average temperature to no more than 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels.
“We want to work with farmers to enhance the ecosystem function of the landscape,” Burgess said. “We need to embed the cost of transitions into the cost of the cotton.”
Growing regenerative cotton in California comes with challenges that farmers are facing head on. Firebaugh farmer John Teixeira this year grew a multi-species cover crop that he terminated with a flail mower rather than a herbicide. He is making compost on the farm and in some parts of the farm spreading 8 to 10 tons per acre.
“We spread it on soil and also on cover crops to digest the cover crop,” Teixeria said. “We're adding bacteria. We would love to have more fungal diversity in the compost, but that's really hard. Fungi don't like to be disturbed. I believe microbes are the future. The key is to keep them alive.”
Gary Martin of Pikalok Farming in Firebaugh was using poultry manure on the farm, until it became prohibitively expensive. He then turned to cover crops and municipal compost to improve water infiltration, soil structure, water retention and increase organic matter. After three years, he added gypsum to improve the soil health.
He found that planting a cover crop without irrigation is a gamble.
“The net value of the cover crop is negative if it doesn't grow (because of a lack of rain),” Martin said. “Composting is more of a sure bet.”
Bowles Farm is experimenting with using a native plant cover crop.
“Native plants are designed to grow when we get moisture, and go away when we don't,” said Bowles Farm executive vice president Derek Azevedo. “It could be a habitat for pollinators.”
The company is also working on writing a carbon plan to map out how much carbon a cotton farm in Merced County can capture. The trial is managed with a multi-species cover crop, strip tillage, untreated seeds, fungal-dominated compost inoculation and a reduction in synthetic nitrogen.
“I can tell you already that the results of that carbon plan are being awaited by one of the brands in the San Luis Obispo area,” Burgess said. “They want to work with that cotton. They are excited to know what this can do for the climate.”
“We're interested in making products that stand the test of time, stay out of landfills, eliminating waste,” Daeschner said.
The company currently sources its high-end materials mainly from Italy, but is interested in transitioning to fabrics that are not only high quality, but also have a reduced environmental footprint. A new line, CO Natural World, focuses on the highest levels of sustainability, organic and regenerative materials, climate-beneficial wools, organic cotton, organic linen and recycled cashmere from garments that can no longer be salvaged.
“To create a garment that goes beyond the very least amount of harm to a garment that actually benefits the planet is the ultimate luxury,” Daeschner said.
The company is part of a network of five clothing brands that are working together to create the California Cotton and Climate Coalition, or C4 Coalition.
“We can do more together than we can do alone to boost the demand for beneficial cotton,” she said. “We are sharing pre-competitive information and pooling our financial resources to overcome existing gaps in the supply chain. And we will share our findings and results to attract new brands to the coalition.”
Calla Rose Ostrander, climate change communicator with the People, Food and Land Foundation, spoke from her home base in Colorado about opportunities for incentives to assist farmers in transitioning to healthy soils practices. She has been working with Maurice Marciano, the founder of Guess Jeans, and his daughter Olivia, who provided funding for part of the Bowles Farm project.
“They want to give back to the cotton community given the legacy of their company,” she said.
Ostrander said there is a network of philanthropic funders who may be interested in supporting the evolution of the cotton production system.
“There's a lot of commitment out there,” Ostrander said. “We're all trying to figure out how to do it and make sure that we can support the farmers in this transition. I'm really glad to see that the emphasis has stayed on supporting the producer and this idea has evolved. It takes time to build things.”
4-H Distance Learning Resources Available, Hedgerows for Healthy Soil and More
Online Educational Resources
Since we're all learning and working from home, our education team has created a virtual learning page packed with wonderful resources about agriculture. You can enjoy these lessons and stories from your computer, tablet or phone. Check back often, as we're adding content.
The Buzz About Hedgerows
Hedgerows are an approved practice under California Department of Agriculture's Healthy Soils Grant Program. That means, growers are eligible to receive grant funding for planting hedgerows. But what exactly are the benefits of hedgerows and why are they worth planting? As a perennial planting it can have immediate impacts on the soil, but what else? The answer lies largely in the pollinators and beneficial insects they attract.
Read the latest from our #climatesmart #ag community education specialist Alli Fish.
Resources You Can Use
University of California researchers and program staff are working to answer questions and provide information and resources relating to the food system and COVID-19. Check out this post, which contains resources about food and farm safety, gardening and more.
UC ANR Expands the Role & Reach of its Sustainable Ag Program
University of California vice president for agriculture and natural resources Glenda Humiston has announced changes to UC ANR's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP).
"Since 1986, SAREP has supported scientific research and education to advance agricultural and food systems that are economically viable, sustain beneficial ecosystem services, and enhance the quality of life in local communities. Moving forward, California farms and food systems face an ever-larger set of challenges: shifting consumer demands,invasive pests, climate change, additional regulations, lack of access to labor, and more. The need for new technologies, better systems and effective problem-solving is greater than ever.
“UC ANR envisions positioning SAREP to serve as a much broader umbrella of sustainability, addressing all aspects of the triple-bottom-line: people, planet and prosperity,” Humiston said. “To accomplish this, SAREP will provide leadership and support to several promising initiatives and will facilitate our ability to capture synergies among them. Those include agritourism, ecosystem services, regional food systems, community and economic development and more.”
The full announcement is available here.
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Mycorrhizae, underappreciated soil component!
Often in our gardening endeavors, it is only the plant itself that we know. However, beneath the...