Soil Health and Nutrient Management Training for Immigrant and Minority Farming Communities

Project Overview

ENC15-145
Project Type: Professional Development Program
Funds awarded in 2015: $74,760.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2018
Grant Recipient: University of Minnesota
Region: North Central
State: Minnesota
Project Coordinator:
Dr. Julie Grossman
Email
University of Minnesota

Annual Reports

Commodities

Not commodity specific

Practices

  • Crop Production: cover crops, nutrient cycling, nutrient management
  • Education and Training: networking, workshop
  • Soil Management: green manures, nutrient mineralization, organic matter, soil analysis

    Abstract:

    The University of MN partnered with the Good Acre, a non-profit food hub, to create a soil health train-the-trainer workshop targeted to immigrant growers. Immigrant farmers represent a growing population of food producers in Minnesota and elsewhere in the Upper Midwest. Many immigrant populations in our region are farming in urban or peri urban settings, which often means contending with poor soils that are compacted, low in nutrients, or lacking sufficient organic matter. This project is creating a comprehensive, culturally relevant soil management curriculum for immigrant growers that can be presented as a 2-day train-the-trainer workshop, or used 1:1 with growers.

    Project objectives:

    Outcome 1 & 2: Develop curricula for 2-day training session using existing and new material.

    Output 3: Webinars and online resources.

    Output 4: Instruct 40 trainers.

    Output 5: Build partnerships between immigrant farmer organizations, The Good Acre, and the UMN College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences.

    Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.