Soil Health Workshop

The 2023 Soil Health & Nutrient Management Workshop was a great success. We had variety of speakers who discussed a wide range of topics including national weather patterns, soil testing, manure management, cover cropping, soil erosion, weed management and watershed planning. We had around 100 attendees come out to the event, held at the Ontario Produce Auction.

Matt Reardron from Nutrien Ag Solutions travelled from the Midwest to talk about “Weather Impacts on Agriculture” and had a fascinating presentation on weather patterns across the country and how they are impacted by global climate and precipitation trends. He included some spring and summer weather outlooks for our region. Chad Stoeckl and Henry Kelsey from Western NY Crop Management spoke about how to interpret your soil test results and actions to take based on these results. Mike Stanyard from Cornell Cooperative Extension talked about some of Western New York’s toughest weeds, how to identify them, their biology, and management options. Part of the workshop involved the discussion of 9 Element Watershed Planning and Implementation by Kevin Olvany. Our local farmers are critical partners in watershed management and planning so it is great to be able to include this topic at this annual agricultural event. Tucker Kautz of Ontario County SWCD and Tom Eskildsen of Yates County SWCD discussed best management practices for nutrient reduction and erosion control on farmland, including lots of examples of local implementation. The day wrapped up with Kirsten Workman of Cornell Pro-Dairy who had an engaging presentation on “Managing Manure in the Context of Conservation Cropping Systems.” We received a great deal of positive feedback from the farming community regarding the workshop content.

Thank you to our partners, Yates County SWCD and the Canandaigua Lake Watershed Association, for all of their hard work to help make this workshop possible. Thank you to our sponsors AgroLiquid, Phelps Supply, Farm Credit East, Alleghany Farm Services, and King’s AgriSeeds for their incredible support! We also want to thank our local partner agencies who attended the workshop to spread the word about resources they can share with our local ag community. Stay tuned for our summer field-based workshop and feel free to reach out anytime with ideas for future speakers and topics.