2-11 IAT Soil health

 Producers in North Idaho seeking to improve their farm’s soil can attend one of three free soil health workshops this week. National and local presenters from the Natural Resources Conservation Service will teach participants how to protect and improve the soil habitat. The workshops will be offered:

· February 12 - Spangle, WA - Harvester Restaurant, 410 W 1st

· February 13 - Colfax, WA - First Methodist Church, 109 S. Mill Street
· February 14 - Lewiston, ID - Red Lion Hotel

The workshops run from 9 am to 3 pm. There is no cost and lunch is provided. Here’s Alexis Collins, Public Affairs Specialist for NRCS

“At this workshop, we hope to change the way you view soils and improve your profit margin by applying agro-ecology principles,” said Marlon Winger, State Agronomist with the Idaho Natural Resources Conservation Service. “We’ll discuss how our farming practices affect soil quality as well as things you can do to improve the soil quality.”

The key note speaker is Ray Archuleta, a national conservation agronomist with NRCS. Archuleta travels around the country presenting information and technology that can help farmers improve their soil health. He says soils are a living factory of macroscopic and microscopic organisms. Providing a good habitat for those organisms improves your soil. Archuleta will demonstrate a simple way to test soils to determine how well they function.

Winger said “With a better understanding of the microbial activity in soil, farmers can improve the soil health,”. “Healthy soils have improved water infiltration rates, reduce fuel, fertilizer and pesticide needs, and resist wind and water erosion.” Speakers will be discussing new technologies in cover crops. Jon Stika, Area Resource Soil Scientist from North Dakota, will present information on basic soil health principles and crop diversity.