Training and Resources for Oregon’s Statewide Soil Health Network with Regional Hubs

Commodities

Practices

• Education and Training: networking, technical assistance
• Soil Management: soil quality/health

In 2024, Oregon Climate and Agriculture Network (OrCAN) led an intentional planning process to clarify the structure of a broad, collaborative state-wide Soil Health Network (SHN). The producers and agricultural professionals involved in the planning process identified several key needs for increasing implementation of soil health practices on Oregon's farms and ranches, including:

• Technical Assistance via 1:1 consultation and on-farm education events
• Information and tools including statewide resources, equipment and soil testing
• Peer Community for producers to share successes/challenges

In 2025, the SHN launched nine pilot Regional Hubs across Oregon, with one collaborative hub in the Rogue Valley of three partners (11 Regional Hub Leads total). Regional Hub Leads (RHLs) are agricultural professionals (APs) who are equipped to meet the soil health needs of producers in their region. RHLs will provide a suite of support for producers to gain the skills, resources, and connections they need to grow healthy soils.

This project will provide responsive, needs-based sustainable agriculture professional development for APs across Oregon, including the 11 RHLs, in order to increase their capacity to provide TA and peer community around soil health.

OrCAN will:

• host a Soil Health Network webpage and calendar;
• provide virtual and in-person trainings/convenings; and
• develop trainings and materials, in response to producer and AP needs

OSU will co-develop and co-present trainings and materials; answer site and region specific soil health questions; and develop and share soil health resources.

RHLs will:

• conduct outreach and engage APs and producers in their region;
• provide resources and TA and refer producers to other resources/support;
• host in-person regional gatherings and events, including producer-to-producer field days and events; and
• provide feedback/evaluation to identify additional training topics and resource needs for their region, and to support development of future trainings and materials

The Soil Health Network (SHN) aims to support soil health practice implementation among Oregon's producers. The specific objectives for this project are:

Objective 1: Increase the knowledge, skills, and capacity of 11 Regional Hub Leads (RHLs) regarding identified soil health topics, resources, and best practices to support soil health practice implementation in Oregon and increase their capacity to support producers with soil health practice implementation.

Objective 2: Increase the knowledge, skills, and awareness of at least 60 agricultural professionals (APs) regarding soil sampling, interpretation of results, and management recommendations to support Oregon producers' soil health practice implementation, and increase their capacity to support producers with soil sampling, interpretation of results and management recommendations.

Objective 3:Increase the knowledge, skills, resources, and connections of at least 75% of participating producers to implement soil health practices through accessible technical assistance, information, education, networking, and structural resources provided by trained APs.

Objective 4: Increase agricultural professional participation in the SHN by 50% and producer participation by 200%, including increased variety of crop types, farm sizes, and geographic regions represented.