Building Soil Health to Sustain Virginia's Farms and Protect Water Quality: an Organic Approach

We will discuss six Principles of Soil Health Management, and strategies and methods through which organic producers put these principles into practice. We will explore how healthy agricultural soils can protect Virginia's natural resources including the Chesapeake Bay, sustain farm resilience and economic viability, and help address the climate crisis. The webinar will include examples of how working organic farms successfully apply these principles on some of Virginia's predominant soil types.
 

Mark's presentation will be immediately followed by a Q and A session. Participants will submit questions throughout the webinar and Mark will answer questions at the end of the presentation. 

A recording of the presentation along with all of Mark's slides and extensive notes will be emailed to registrants within 24 hours after the event. 

Mark Schonbeck has worked for 34 years as a researcher, consultant, educator, and advocate for sustainable and organic agriculture.  He works one-on-one with farmers and homesteaders, taking a site-specific approach to soil test interpretation and organic soil, nutrient, and weed management for vegetables and other crops.  In his capacity as Research Associate with Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF), he develops research-based education materials including a series of practical guides on Soil Health and Organic Farming, available at http://ofrf.org/. 

In the past, Mark has led or participated in several on-farm research projects conducted by Virginia Association for Biological Farming(VABF), and collaborated with VABF and National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) to help USDA Natural  Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) programs better serve organic producers. 

Mark also serves as VABF policy liaison with National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) of which VABF is a member group, and writes the policy update column for the monthly VABF e-newsletter.  He also works with OFRF to develop policy recommendations to help organic producers mitigate the impacts of climate change on their operations and the communities they serve.   

Register for the Zoom Webinar today! 
March 12th · 1:00 - 2:30 pm 
$10 VABF Members / $15 Non-Members