All posts by Leslie Johnson

19Oct/22

Citizen Science for Great Lakes Cover Crops

October 19, 2022Soil Health2022, agriculture, citizen science, cover crops, digital cafe, extension, farmers, science, soil health, soil health webinar, soil health webinars, soils, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

Many cover crop benefits depend on successful cover crop growth, or biomass, but cover crop biomass can vary widely across farms because it is influenced by a range of environmental and management factors. This Digital Cafe featured Etienne Herrick, a Ph.D. student in the Blesh Soil and Agroecosystems Lab at the University of Michigan, who provided an overview of a citizen science project working to better understand how and why cover crop growth varies across real farms. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, October 19, 2022.

21Sep/22

Soil Health Practices and Water Behavior and Efforts to Quantify Soil Function

September 21, 2022Soil Health2022, agriculture, digital cafe, extension, farming, research, soil, soil health, soil health webinar, soils, state of the science, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

Soil health is defined in terms of soil function, and some of the most important functions are related to water-holding and water infiltration. Farmers and policy-makers both care about these properties, but they can be elusive to measure. In this edition of the Soil Health Digital Café, Dr. Anna Cates, University of Minnesota Soil Health Specialist, discusses on-farm efforts to quantify changes in soil function with soil health practice adoption, including soil organic matter pools, soil aggregates, and water infiltration. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, September 21, 2022.

25Aug/22

Nebraska Soil Health Producer Panel

August 25, 2022Soil Healthanswers, cover crops, farmers, lessons learned, manure, nebraska, producer panel, questions, soil health, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

In a special edition of the Soil Health Nexus Digital Cafe Series, Nebraska Extension hosted a Producer Panel. The panel includes 3hree Nebraska farmers who share their soil health and conservation stories, how precipitation impacts the conservation practices they practice, and how the adoption of conservation has impacted their bottom line. They also answer audience questions. This presentation was originally broadcast on Thursday, August 25, 2022.

17Aug/22

How to Interrogate a Soil

August 17, 2022Soil Health2022, digital cafe, extension, farming, soil, soil health, soil health testing, soil health webinar, soil testing, soils, state of the science, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

This Soil Health Digital Café features Tony Hartshorn, Associate Professor at Montana State University, who discusses his work in the Soil Interrogation Lab at Montana State University, soil literacy, soil remediation, and the importance of knowing your parent material. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, August 17, 2022.

08Jun/22

Soil Health’s Link to Water Quality

June 8, 2022Soil Health2022, digital cafe, soil health, soil health webinar, soils, the current, water quality, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

The agronomic benefits of improving soil health are well known, but when it comes to the specific impacts on water quality off field, there are more unknowns. In June, the Digital Cafe Webinar Series took a break to encourage folks to attend The Current webinar series, on Soil Health’s Link to Water Quality. That webinar is featured below. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.

18May/22

Understanding Adoption of Agricultural Conservation Practices

May 18, 2022Soil Health2022, adoption of practices, agriculture, conservation, digital cafe, farmers, farming, research, science, soil health, soil health webinar, soil health webinars, water quality, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

The April edition of the Digital Cafe series featured Linda Prokopy, Professor and Department Head in Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Purdue University. Linda is a Professor and Department Head of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Purdue University and directs the Indiana Water Resources Research Center. Linda also leads the Natural Resources Social Science Lab (NRSS) that examines how human interactions with the environment impact natural resources. In this webinar, Linda summarizes decades of research examining what motivates adoption of conservation practices in agriculture. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, May 18, 2022.

20Apr/22

Introducing The Soil Health Matrix Decision Tool

April 20, 2022Soil Health2022, basic tool, decision support tool, digital cafe, extension, farmers, soil health, soil health webinar, soil health webinars, soils, tool, toolbox, tools, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

As part of the Soil Health Nexus Digital Cafe Series, Brian Dougherty, Field Agricultural Engineer with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Brian is a part of the Soil Health Nexus team that worked to develop the Soil Health Matrix Decision Tool presented in this webinar. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, April 20, 2022.

16Mar/22

Long-term Effect of Cover Crops on Soil Health and Crop Yield

March 16, 2022Manure2022, agriculture, cover crops, crops, digital cafe, farmers, farming, soil health, soil health webinar, soil health webinars, soils, state of the science, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

As part of the Soil Health Nexus Digital Cafe Series, Dr. Inderjot Chahal with the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Guelph, presents “Long-term Effect of Cover Crops on Soil Health and Crop Yield”. This presentation was originally broadcast on Wednesday, March 16, 2022.

21Jan/22

Quantifying Soil Health: Where are we now?

January 21, 2022Soil Health2022, digital cafe, farmers, manure and soil health, soil health testing, soil health webinar, soil testing, state of the science, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

As part of the Soil Health Nexus Digital Cafe Series, Dr. Jordon Wade, who is an Assistant Professor of Soil Health at the University of Missouri and the Director of the Soil Health Assessment Center presents “Quantifying Soil Health: Where are we now?”. This presentation was originally broadcast on January 19, 2022.

Reliably measuring soil health is essential for determining appropriate management strategies. Current frameworks for interpreting soil health indicators can be difficult to operationalize. How can we use soil health indicators to inform on-farm management? This talk is a check-in on our current frameworks and how reliable they are (or aren’t) in making management decisions.

20Dec/21

Soil Stability Maps to Improve Management for Soil Health and Carbon Markets

December 20, 2021Soil Health2021, agriculture, carbon, digital cafe, farmers, research, satellite images, science, soil health, soil health webinar, soil health webinars, soil maps, state of the science, webinar, webinar seriesLeslie Johnson

As part of the Soil Health Nexus Digital Cafe Series, Dr. Bruno Basso from the Michican State University present “Soil Stability Maps to Improve Management for Soil Health and Carbon Markets”. This presentation was originally broadcast on December 15, 2021.