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2019 Virginia Farm to Table Conference: Servant Leadership and Courageous Conversations is set for December 5 and 6

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We hope you have your calendars marked and plan to attend the 2019 Virginia Farm to Table Conference. The theme for this year is servant leadership and courageous conversation.  Virginia Cooperative Extension, in partnership with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Virginia Sustainable Agriculture Research Education (SARE), Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), LD&B Insurance and Financial Services, Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, Virginia Foundation of Agricultural Innovation and Rural Sustainability (VAFAIRS), and community partners present the eighth annual Virginia Farm to Table Conference on Thursday, December 5  and Friday, December 6, 2019, at Blue Ridge Community College’s Plecker Workforce Development Center in Weyers Cave, VA.

The planning committee is pleased to have Virginia’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services  Jewel H. Bronaugh, Ph.D., open the conference on Day 1. Dan Goerlich, Ph.D., associate director of Virginia Cooperative Extension will kick-off Day 2 with remarks on service, leadership, and conversation.

The planning committee has put together a solid core of speakers and practitioners for the two-day conference. Speakers and practitioners who may be of interest to you and your organization include:

  • Elnian Glibert of ZingTrain
  • Bob Muth of Muth Family Farm
  • Dr. Timothy Woods of the University of Kentucky
  • Amani Olugbala of Soul Fire Farm
  • Danial Austin of Green Sprig Ag
  • CJ Isbell of Keenbell Farm
  • Charlie Wade of Deep Roots Milling
  • Sarah Cohen of Route 11 Potato Chips
  • Nancy Bruns of J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works and J. Q. Dickinson Appalachain Mercantile
  • Keith Ohlinger of Heritage Hill Farm
  • J. B. Daniel of Virginia USDA-NRCS
  • Matt Booher of Virginia Cooperative Extension
  • And Others.

Speakers and panelists will address and share their experiences about The Art of Giving Great Service, Servant Leadership, Bottomline Organizational Change, Soil Management for Organic Farmers, Livestock and Grazing Management, Courageous Conversation: The What and How?, Nuts and Bolts of Values-Based Farming and Marketing, Growing and Marketing Small Fruit, and Dismantling Biases. There will be four value chain case studies presented during the concurrent sessions including Route 11 Potato Chips, Common Grain Alliance, and others. Additionally, participants wil have the flexibility for water cooler conversations and follow-up with confencerence speakers.

On Thursday evening, there will be Farm-to-Table Networking at the Granary at Valley Pike Farm Market with hors d’oeuvres and live music.

More details about the conference will be coming soon but mark your calendars for December 5 and 6! You will be challenged and inspired!

Learn more and register at https://tinyurl.com/2019VAF2TRegistration

Principles and policies for nourishing natural resource conservation

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An overarching goal of Virginia’s farm-to-table effort is to cultivate deeper, more meaningful relationships with farmers and the broader community so people better understand the challenges and realities of today’s farming, particularly on a community, local, and regional level. To achieve this goal, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and educational partners like USDA- Natural Resources Conservation Service, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and Virginia Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), work to nourish collaboration and conservation to make farming profitable, durable, sustainable, and resilient. With farming and local agriculture on a good solid footing, rural and urban communities supported and dependent on farming will be more durable, sustainable, and resilient.

An educational workshop on soil and water conservation in vegetable production (Courtesy of USDA).

An important element of this collaboration is the conservation of critical natural resources such as soil, water, air, and wildlife habitat. In a recent journal article, researchers and scientists of the Soil and Water Conservation Society shared eight broad principles and policies for soil and water conservation (Manale et al., 2018). The principles and policies were developed and shared to educate and inform the farm and conservation-related legislation being considered in the 2018 Farm Bill. The principles and policies are as follows:

  1. Agricultural soil, water, and associated wildlife and ecosystem resources must be sustainably managed for future generations.
  2. Sustainable stewardship of agricultural lands depends upon scientifically sound research and effective communication.
  3. Healthy soils are productive and resilient soils.
  4. Wetlands and floodplains are essential to long-term resource sustainability.
  5. Farm bills should incentivize farmers and utilities to protect drinking water.
  6. Conservation of agricultural lands should not conflict with wildlife conservation.
  7. An informed public is necessary for sustainable management of soil, water, and associated wildlife and ecosystem resources.
  8. Responsible conservation management demands accountability.

In sharing these eight principles and policies, the hope is to nourish deeper conversations around ecologically sound soil and water conservation and cultivate ongoing collaboration to benefit Virginia agriculture and communities.

For the full article and additional information, please visit the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation and link here.

References:

Manale, A., Sharpley, A., DeLong, C., Speidel, D., Gantzer, C., Peterson, J., Martin, R., Lindahl, C., &  Adusumilli, N. (2018). Principles and policies for soil and water conservation. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 73(4), 96A-99A. https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.73.4.96A

 

Common Ground: Growing Money and Soil at Potomac Vegetable Farms

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Can Virginia farmers find common ground around the issue of soil health and the management of core principles for better soil function and performance?

Understanding and building your farm’s soil resource is critical for productivity, profitability and sustainability. Of course, soils have inherent and dynamic properties that affect the function and performance of soils. Like a personal bank account, good farmers and producers seek to manage the dynamic processes by making soil health-building deposits and minimizing withdrawals that are soil health-depleting.

At the 2015 Virginia Farm to Table Conference, Ellen Polishuk of Potomac Vegetable Farms shared how she and her colleagues work to grow money and soil with commercial vegetable production. The Common Ground Soil Health profile video below highlights the core principles she uses to build soil health and maintain a positive bank account.

Six (6) additional technical clips were developed in collaboration with Ellen Polishuk of Potomac Vegetable Farms, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Virginia Cooperative Extension and Virginia Association for Biological Farming, and AE Media. The play list can be accessed at the following link: https://youtu.be/YnWJBegM4ZQ?list=PLuZ_HCbDlptObEcuqWaCkhYhiTS3CP0ua

The video and technical clips were produced as part of a USDA-NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) project entitled, Finding Common Ground: Healthy Farms from the Soil Up.

Stop Being a Clod: Minimize Soil Disturbance

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Farming and the marketing of farm and food products has many challenges without being a clod and making the job even tougher. With vegetable production and farming in general, the question of whether to till the soil or not can be a dilemma or the start of a new way of thinking? For proper seed germination, good seed to soil contact is critical so a good seedbed is essential even if it’s a very small area. However, can we be doing more harm than good by relying solely on tillage for providing a good environment for the seed and subsequent plant? Or are we leaving the soil naked and hungry and the plant vulnerable?

Obviously, too much tillage is bad. Any tillage is disruptive, but over-tillage destroys soil structure, disrupts the habitat for many microbes and beneficial insects, increases the breakdown of soil organic matter and the oxidation and loss of soil carbon. Can we minimize soil disturbance and use gentler options for creating a healthy environment for a seed and growing plant? Can we create a soil environment that is not cloddy and too hard and tight for even a plant root to penetrate? Can we avoid pulverizing the soil with tillage equipment so the results are a dust and the powdery remains of a soil?

Virginia Cooperative Extension is cooperating with Virginia’s USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to encourage soil building strategies to minimize soil disturbance and promote overall soil health. Here are some tips to get you started on your way: 1) Start slowly and manage plant residue from previous crops better; 2) Add soil organic matter as often as possible with compost, mulches, green manures and soil amendments; 3) Use diverse cropping rotations that include plants with different rooting depths and patterns; 4) Feed the soil microbes a diverse diet; 5) Experiment with planting different soil building cover crops like radishes, turnips, crimson clover, buckwheat and old standbys like rye and barley; 6) Be aware of the adverse effects of pesticides and certain types of fertilizers on soil ecology; and 7) If you have to till, use the most gentle equipment possible under the right soil moisture conditions to avoid pulverizing the soil, creating clods or just being a clod!

Videos of Soil Health Principles and Farmer Testimonials

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Soil Health Principles:

Healthy Soil for a Healthy World by Dr. Jill Clapperton of Rhizoterra at the National Conference on Cover Crops and Soil Health. February, 2014.

Science and Biology of Soil Health by Dr. Kristine Nichols, Soil Scientist, USDA-Agricultural Research Service as a keynote presentation at the National Conference on Cover Crops and Soil Health. February, 2014.

Soil Health and NPK by Dr. Rick Haney of USDA-Agricultural Research Service as a presentation at the National Conference on Cover Crops and Soil Health. February, 2014.

The Road to Soil Health: Principles for Farming and Ranching in the 21st Century by Ray Archuleta, Soil Health Specialist, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service at the National Conference on Cover Crops and Soil Health. February, 2014.

Farmer Testimonials:

Gabe Brown of Brown’s Ranch in North Dakota talks about cover cropping and the regeneration of his farm’s soils for long-term profitability.

Ray Gaesser of Gaesser Farming is a soybean farmer from Iowa and is a cover crop innovator.

Steve Groff of Cedar Meadow Farm in Pennsylvania. Cedar Meadow Farm is a diversified vegetable farm that utilizes no-till production and multi-species cover cropping systems.

Under Cover Farmers  by Dr. Robin “Buz” Kloot of the University of South Carolina in collaboration with USDA- Natural Resources Conservation Service East National Technology Support Center in Greensboro, NC.

Harvesting a multi-species cover crop.

Harvesting a multi-species cover crop.

Good Food: Sustainably and Intensively

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As we think about the production of good food and how to do that more sustainably and intensively, maintaining good soil cover to prevent erosion and promote soil health will be critical! Here are a few pictures of vegetable and fruit production with cover crops in the Shenandoah Valley!

Tomatoes under plastic and with cover crops.

Tomatoes under plastic and with cover crops.

Intensively managed tomatoes and cover cropping to prevent erosion

Intensively managed tomatoes and cover cropping to prevent erosion

Good cover crop residue to keep the vegetables clean.

Good cover crop residue to keep the vegetables clean.

Good residue management is key!

Good residue management is key!

Let’s Not Keep the Importance of Soil Health a Secret!

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Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech, Virginia State University, and Virginia Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education are partnering with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and other organizations and agencies (e.g., Chesapeake Bay Foundation, American Farmland Trust, Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Society, Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts and others) as part of a Virginia Soil Health Coalition to promote and educate farmers, growers, landowners and the general public on the foundational principles of soil management in an overarching effort to unlock the secrets in the soil.

Virginia’s USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has boiled down the core principles of soil health management to four easy to remember phrases!

Keep the soil covered

Minimize soil disturbance

Maximize living roots

Energize with diversity

Soil was definitely meant to be covered.

Soil was definitely meant to be covered.

For more information about soil health and the Virginia Soil Health Coalition, contact your nearest USDA Service Center or local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.

Soil is a foundational resource to farming, conservation and health in the 21st century so let’s not keep the importance of soil health a secret!

Farm to University: Expanding Virginia’s Educational and Economic Footprint

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Guest post by Karen Kappert

Many of us are familiar with the concept of “farm to school,” a practice becoming more and more popular with school districts trying to increase healthy eating, stabilize their local economies, and promote more sustainable food to table practices. While most of us associate this idea with elementary schools, some universities in Virginia have been working hard to initiate their own Farm to University programs.

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Encouraging Better Nutrition for Individuals and Families: SNAP Resources

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Guest post by Karen Kappert

SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is a government-funded initiative aimed at preventing hunger and encouraging better nutrition. SNAP offers nutrition assistance to millions of eligible, low income individuals and families. SNAP can be used like a debit card to buy eligible food items from authorized retailers – once accepted, you will be given an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card which looks exactly like a debit card!

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Making Sense: Strengthening Local Communities and Economies

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Guest post by Karen Kappert

At the Virginia 2012 Farm to Table Conference, ideas on how to create sustainable and profitable local businesses were discussed and imagined. The following summarizes some of that information and provides an overview of how to encourage local investment, plus information on resources that are available in Virginia for small businesses.

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