Soil Quality Education

Soil Quality Annual Conference

During the past five years, Heart of Maine RC&D has held six Soil Quality Conferences, featuring local, national, and international speakers on the topic of building soil health in a way that is practical, economical, and environmentally sound. We have featured Acres USA speakers like Gary Zimmer, Neil Kinsey, and Arden Andersen.

In 2005, over 75 people attended a three day conference in Bangor featuring Dr. Arden Andersen. A soil scientist, agricultural consultant and a physician, Arden is an authority in biological agriculture and consults with farmers, farm consultants, and product companies around the world.

In February of this year, local experts Mark Fulford of Monroe and Tim Livingstone of New Brunswick, continued the learning with two days of practical applications and recipes for specific crops. Participants learned:

• New ways to economize trips on the field while gaining maximum effect from fertility programs and available equipment.
• How to use cover crop cycles to maximize the power of amendments in re-mineralizing the soil.
• About the soil foodweb and how to match compost and compost tea recipes to your crop in order to charge its natural energy delivery system.

Bob Pike of Pike Agri-Lab Supply in Strong, was on hand with a display of field testing tools that farmers can use to monitor plant and soil conditions during the growing season.

Upcoming Soil Quality Events

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