Grants – Washington State Soil Health Committee

Project Update: Whitman County Cover Crop Symposium

The first annual Palouse Alternative Cropping Symposium was held on Friday, February 23rd in Pullman, WA.

The event was a great success with 80 people in attendance and six fantastic presentations from local growers who are experimenting with cover crops and cover cropping and grazing. In addition to the presentations the program included an interactive poll that addressed where growers get most of their information, soil health on the farm and what barriers exist for trying cover cropping. This event was the first of three Alternative Cropping Symposiums that will be facilitated by the Palouse Conservation District over the next couple of years. The goal of the symposium is to connect growers in the region that are experimenting with cover crops and to provide a forum for peer to peer education. This event was made possible by a grant through the Washington State Soil Health Committee and through donations from our generous sponsors. Sponsors for the symposium included: Pacific Northwest Farmers Cooperative, Palouse Conservation District, OTT Hydromet, Northwest Farm Cred Services, Viterra, Spectrum Crop Development, Clearwater Seed, Spokane Community College, Pearson Farm and Fence, Spray Center Electronics, Roots of Resilience, and Rainier Seeds.

If you are interested in participating in the symposium next year or you wouldlike more information about the event visit www.palousecd.org or contact Ryan Boylan() or Lovina Englund ().

For more information on this grant project, click here.

Final Grant Reports: San Juan Islands Conservation District

One of WA State Soil Committee’s 2016 grants was awarded to the San Juan Islands Conservation District. The scope of their project involved demonstrating the benefits of biochar in drylands as well as in irrigated agriculture fields.

Their field work included the successful application of biochar to six different study sites on four different farms. For outreach, they developed a 10 page report, an online multimedia engagement platform, as well as handouts for farm and forest landowners.

For their results and final conclusions, a full report can be viewed here, and the web-based media representation of their project is available here. To see a full presentation of this and the other four WA State Soil Health Committee grant projects, don’t miss the WACD Annual Meeting.

Soil Committee to Attend WA Association of Conservation Districts Annual Meeting

Each year, the Washington State Soil Health Committee awards a number of grants for projects in our state seeking the sustainable advancement of soil health. Many of these grants are awarded to Conservation Districts around Washington State. Truly, Washington’s Conservation Districts make invaluable partners in the soil health revolution. The WA Soil Committee is proud to attend the WA Association of Conservation Districts Annual Meeting this November to meet with the people doing amazing things in conservation districts around the state. We will also be presenting on this year’s five grant projects. The Annual Meeting will be held November 28-30 at Semiahmoo Resort in Blaine, WA. For more information and to register for the conference, visit the WACD website.