Developing an Urban Soil Health Program

UMass Extension will be hosting a soil health mini school on March 24, 2023. A perfect way to celebrate the first week of spring! Our core audience is agriculture professionals and technical service providers. Farmers and researchers are always welcome. 

We’ll hear from the director of Indiana’s Urban Soil Health program on the unique needs of urban growers, the director of the West Virginia University Soil Testing Lab on soil health testing fact and fiction, and have two hands on demonstrations in composting and comparing popular aggregate stability tests. 

 Can’t make it in person for the hands on workshops? You can sign up to only attend the two presentations virtually – you won’t want to miss them!

Developing an Urban Soil Health Program
Elli Blaine Director of the Urban Soil Health Program for the Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts. 

Elli will share the experience of developing a program that specifically addresses urban stakeholders’ unique soil health needs. The program’s mission is to improve soil health on Indiana’s urban and community small-scale agricultural land, ranging from small acreage market farms to church gardens and vacant lots transformed into community gardens. The program is designed to reach and assist a broad audience of traditionally underserved populations in agriculture. Attendees will leave with new ideas and inspiration to support urban agriculture in Massachusetts.

The full description, schedule, and registration link can be found here. 

For questions about the event, please contact me at sglazecorcor@umass.edu