This training is designed to provide an introduction to the Cropland In-Field Soil Health Assessment, a tool for inventorying soils and identifying resource concerns related to soil health on croplands (organic matter depletion, compaction, aggregate instability, and soil organism habitat loss/degradation).

Learning how to do the assessment in the field is easy. Interpreting and utilizing the results is the hard part.

Topics Include:

1. Conservation Planning & Soil Health Assessment - Holly Giombi

In this Tech Talk Jeff Duchene (NRCS Grazing Specialist, NW Area) and Morgan Kauth (NRCS Grazing Specialist, SW Area) discuss an overview of Conservation Practice Standard 511 Forage Harvest Management, when and where CPS 511 is applicable, types of forages, harvesting equipment, storing harvested forages, and additional livestock feedstuffs (ie. beet tailings, potato processing biproducts, soybean meal/hulls, grain screenings, and crop residues.)

Join our nutrient management and weed management specialists in this final webinar of the series. We will look ahead to 2022 and discuss how to tame fertilizer and weed management input costs in this rapidly changing environment.

During this session Eric Mousel, UMN Extension, focuses on the impact of the 2021 drought on pasture and forage production in 2022. Eric will discusses management actions producers should consider to aid in the recovery of drought affected pastures, as well as options to consider if the drought persists into the 2022 grazing season.

Tune into this Digital Cafe to hear from Dr. Inderjot Chahal with the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Guelph. Dr. Chalal will discuss the long-term cover crop experiments established at the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus. The presentation will focus specifically on the benefits and implications of cover crops on increasing soil health indicators and crop yield in the long-term.

Join to learn how to reduce nitrogen need by incorporating legumes into your rotation. Using leguminous cover crops provides multiple below ground ecosystem services that support crop production, restore/maintain soil health and reduce undesirable environmental consequences. The first part of the presentation will focus on understanding soil ecological processes that enable leguminous cover crops to serve as a nitrogen source for subsequent cash crops. Followed by discussing how leguminous green manures alter nitrogen cycling compared to additions of mineral fertilizers.

Bringing forward information and data from several years and data from assorted research locations, Dr. Gruver discusses both gains and hurdles in cover crops and soil health. Reducing Cost of Failure and Quickly Learning From Failure. “Fail Fast, Succeed Faster” Dr. Joel Gruver, Professor of Soil Science at Western Illinois University brings new soil health discussion forward regarding reducing cost of failure and quickly learning from failure in cover crops; Precision Cover Cropping; Water Quality; presentation of data from several years and locations of research.

Paul Mugge and Tim Youngquist come together to share their passion for integrating conservation practices into their family farms through prairie strips. In this farminar, they will share their experience with prairie strips, which includes discovering how strategic use of prairie strips can help protect the land while benefitting native wildlife.

Drought effects on insect pest pressure: What might 2022 look like? Join Dr. Ian MacRae, Extension entomologist, and Bruce Potter, Extension IPM specialist, as we learn how the 2021 drought might affect insect pest pressure in 2022.

Small grains management update. Join Dr. Jochum Wiersma, Extension small grains specialist, when we address production agronomics, variety selection, and economics of small grain production in Minnesota. Whether you are a farmer or crop consultant already producing small grains, or looking for another crop to add to the rotation, this session is for you.