Southwest North Dakota Soil Health Demonstration

Southwest North Dakota Soil Health Demonstration

Summary

The project manager attended multiple soil health workshops and soil health field days to see improvements other organizations were making with soil health.

3rd Annual Forage Beef and Cover Crop Workshop was held September 15th with 110 people in attendance. People in attendance included extension employees, Natural Resource Conservation Service employees, Soil Conservation District employees, high school and college students, farmers, and ranchers.

• 2010 Yields

Objectives/Performance Targets

Objective is to demonstrate how using no-till, diverse crop rotation, and cover crops can improve soil health. We have more producers in the area that are taking advantage of these practices after coming to our demonstration plots for the workshop.

• Bulk Density Test

Accomplishments/Milestones

Fourteen producers signed up for the NCR-SARE cover crop initiative. Two hundred and eighty acres of cover crops were planted under a no till system on the producers’ land. Producer feed back has been very positive. They are excited to plant cover crop again in 2011.
Soil Food Web Test were taken at the beginning of the project in 2008 and will be taken again in June 2011 to compare changes.

• 2008 Soil Food Web Test
• SWND Soil Health Demonstration Plots

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Project Manager received many calls from producers wanting to learn more about cover crops and how they affect soil health.

Project Manager had speaking engagements at Western RC&D Conference in Missoula Montana attendance 200, Dunn County Soil Conservation Field Day attendance 30, 3rd annual Forage Beef and Cover Crop Workshop at the Southwest North Dakota Soil Health Demonstration Field Day attendance 110. There was also 3 other small public county meeting the project manager spoke at 45 people total were in attendance.

Collaborators: