People of the land long have understood tillage and have worked to upgrade tillage technologies. Attention also has been given over the years to awareness about nutrients needed to grow crops and how to keep the soil in place.
All of those issues have come to work hand-in-glove in the realization that all about the soil’s health. Agronomists and researchers are realizing that the tillage, cover crops, erosion conservation and nutrient inputs affect that health.
A soil’s bacteria content might be something that wasn’t considered too much by farmers 50 years ago, but in recent years that sort of matter has grown in interest.
Workshops are starting to bring everything together during soil-health workshops, and two of them are coming up in our area.
One is the Farming Profitably with Cover Crops and Healthy Soils conference, which will be held 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 10 at the C.A.M. Center at Thorp, and then repeated 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Augusta-Bridge Creek Fire Station at Augusta. Information about that workshop is available by contacting the Eau Claire River Coalition at 715-836-2918 or [email protected].
The other is the Wisconsin Cover Crop Conference, Feb. 19-20 at the Holiday Inn at Stevens Point. Registration should be made at https://uwccs.eventsair.com/cover/reg/Site/Register
Those who’ve known the soil realize the significance of this move toward paying attention to the soil’s health.
The land, after all, has served us well; we should return the favor.
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