August 2019 Empire Farm Days: Tabletop soil demonstrations showed farmers how soil managed with good practices retains better structure, is less prone to erosion, and stores more water for crops. Photo credit: Haley Rylander
Summer is a busy time in the Northeast, and as you can imagine, it was busy with New York soil health-related activities:
June
New York Soil Health’s David Wolfe testified on climate change and soil health before the House Ag Committee (video link)
News item on Wolfe’s testimony: Wolfe offers ag fixes to ‘complex, severe’ climate change
July
The Cornell Organic Production and Marketing Program Work Team and New York Soil Health Initiative, in conjunction with NOFA-NY, began their free Organic @Cornell Summer Field Day Series.
New report shows cover crop acreage growing rapidly – in New York cover crop acreages are up 37% from 2012
Jenny Kao-Kniffin, associate professor of horticulture in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University received an award through the U.S. Department of Agriculture for her work in soil microbial ecology.
Cornell Soil Health Lab, and lab manager Kirsten Kurtz, were featured in in Homestead Brooklyn’s “Plant One On Me” youtube series.
New York Passes Climate Act, a note on Implications for Agriculture & WSKG story
Researchers, policymakers and industry members gathered at Cornell’s pyrolysis facility for a Biochar workshop
August
Empire Farm Days Focus on Soil Health
Videos of Empire Farm Days Presentations
Collaborative New York City-based project on improving urban soils was awarded grant funding from Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS).
American Farmland Trust (AFT) and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced the launch of the Genesee River Demonstration Farms Network.
