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Conservation agriculture news
Pamela Rodriguez of CDFA’s Organic Program visits CASI’s NRI Project field site as part of Friday Open House educational series in Five Points!
February 15, 2019
Pamela Rodriguez, a Special Investigator with CDFA's Organic Program in Fresno, took time to visit CASI's NRI Project field on Friday, February 15th as part of the ongoing open house program showcasing soil health that is underway through June of 2019. Rodriguez works out of the Fresno CDFA office and has major responsibility for inspections of organic farms throughout much of the State. She was hosted by CASI's Jeff Mitchell, who took her out to the long-term NRI Project field where he showed her changes that have been detected in soil function and appearance due to twenty years of soil care management that includes the use of cover crops and no-tillage. Then, Mitchell also provided her with a presentation of the history of the NRI Project and a summary of the project's primary outcomes and findings since it was initiated in 1999. CASI is very grateful to Pamela Rodriguez for taking time to visit our site in Five Points!
Pamela Rodriguez of CDFA’s Organic Program in Fresno, CA visited CASI’s NRI Project field in Five Points, CA on February 15, 2019
USDA ARS soil scientists, Gao and Hale, visit CASI’s NRI Project in Five Points!
February 15, 2019
CASI's long-term NRI Project was the site of a very nice visit on February 15th by two USDA ARS soil scientists as part of the site's ongoing Friday Public Open House program. The two visitors were Drs. Suduan Gao and Lauren Hale of the San Joaquin Valley Water Management Research Laboratory in Parlier, CA. Gao is a veteran soil chemist at the Lab and Hale is a recently-hired soil microbiologist who began her work in November of 2018. They met with CASI's Jeff Mitchell for a tour and examination of the NRI Project field and then the three also had a very good discussion of possible future collaborations that might stem from the long-term study. Gao and Hale were also invited to become a part of several groups that Mitchell is working with including the CIG organic no-till farmer group and Mitchell's ongoing work on cover crop water use at California orchards and tomato farms. CASI welcomes Gao and Hale as new Workgroup members and looks forward to very good interactions and collaborations with them in the near future!
USDA ARS Water Management Research Lab soil scientists, Suduan Gao (left) and Lauren Hale, visit CASI’s NRI Project field in Five Points, CA February 15, 2019
CASI’s Jeff Mitchell (right) showing ARS soil microbiologist, Lauren Hale, evidence of enhanced soil biology in diverse multi-species cover crop that is part of the no-till cover crop system in the NRI Project in Five Points, CA
CASI and CA’s NRCS have best year yet at Tulare Farm Show!
CASI once again paired with the California NRCS to host an outdoor display and information site at the 2019 World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA from February 12th through the 14th. This year's joint sponsorship of the display presence was by far our best year ever as measured by the sheer number of passersby we attracted and the total number of live soil health demonstrations that we provided. The CASI / NRCS educational event was coordinated by Sheryl Feit, NRCS Associate State Soil Scientist in the Davis, CA State Office, along with Brook Gale of the Fresno Area Office, Mira Dick, DC of the Merced Office, Caleb, Conservation Planner in Kern County, and Javier, an NRCS Earth Intern also in the Kern County office. Jeff Mitchell was also on hand from UC's CASI Center and Dan Munk and Scott Stoddard, also UCCE CASI members, contributed to our Workgroup's presence at the UC ANR site at the Tulare show.
Over 80 individual demonstrations of various aspects of soil health and soil care were provided during the three-day event. Roughly thirty new Workgroup members were added to our ranks and good educational information, not to mention good dialogues and interactions were also provided to a diverse array of folks who stopped by. A video showing some of the activity at the show is available at https://youtu.be/6kxUJQxZhHM
Family visiting the CASI / NRCS information display site at the 2019 World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA
Mira Dick, USDA NRCS Merced (far left) and Sheryl Feit, USDA NRCS Davis (far right) conduct soil health demonstation at the joint CASI and NRCS display site at the 2019 World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA
UCCE's Mohammad Yaghmour, UCCE Kern County (second from right) and Jaime Solorio, UC West Side REC, Five Points, CA (far right) visit the CASI / NRCS display site at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA - February 13, 2019
Researcher invites public to visit San Joaquin Valley soil health demonstration site in Five Points
UC Cooperative Extension cropping systems specialist Jeff Mitchell is issuing a standing invitation to the public to visit the site of an ongoing conservation agriculture research project and see for themselves the results of long-term soil-building practices.
“Every Friday morning from 9 o'clock till noon, beginning in February and going through June, I invite folks to come to the project site to see up close and personal just what soil health means,” Mitchell said.
The project, funded by the National Research Initiative, compares plots that have been managed for more than 20 years in an annual rotation of cotton, processing tomatoes and more recently sorghum, garbanzos, and melons, under four different treatments: no-tilled plus cover crops, no-tilled with no cover crops, conventionally tilled with cover crops and conventionally tilled without cover crops.
“What we've got at this site is a very long-term example of exactly what implementation of a small set of soil care, or soil health, principles really means for soil function and management,” he said.
Mitchell says that the study site in Five Points is a valuable resource for the people of California because of its dedicated adherence to principles that are widely touted to improve production efficiencies, reduce emissions, cycle nutrients more tightly, and reduce inputs over time.
“I recently heard about the value of publicly showcasing long-term sites such as the one we've got in Five Points. It's being done in several other places, including the Dakotas and in Europe,” Mitchell said. “It just seems to make sense to open up our field more widely to folks who might be interested in seeing the remarkable changes we've seen and monitored for a long time.”
According to Mitchell, the NRI Project field is already “the most visited research field in the state,” but with this new invitation, he is hoping to have an even broader and wider impact. “We've got a simply amazing resource here and I want folks to see it,” he says. The study has also been selected as one of the monitoring sites of the North American Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements that has been initiated by the Soil Health Institute of Morrisville, NC.
More than 30 peer-reviewed scientific articles have been published based on work done in this study field.
The NRI Project is located at the University of California's West Side Research and Extension Center, 17353 W. Oakland Ave., in Five Points.
“I promise to be out there every Friday morning from Feb. 15 through June 26,” he said.
Jeff Mitchell
Soil Carbon Coalition’s Peter Donovan visits NRI Project in Five Points!
January 26, 2019
CASI had the honor of hosting Peter Donovan of the Soil Carbon Coalition at our long-term NRI Project field on Saturday, January 26th. Peter is a very well-known thought-leader and very dedicated person who has been working on the front lines to “advance the practice, and spread awareness of the opportunity, of turning atmospheric carbon into living landscapes and soil carbon” through the Soil Carbon Coalition, a nonprofit (501c3) organization for many years. He and other Coalition partners are traveling far and wide to raise awareness and understanding of the importance of the “soil carbon sponge,” the “living matrix that soaks up, stores, and filters water; holds landscapes in place; and provides nutrients for an entire food chain, from what would otherwise be bare rock and desert sands.” CASI's Jeff Mitchell hosted Peter for a very good visit and examination of the diverse cover crops that are now growing in the NRI Project study and of the changes in soil functions that have occurred with no-tillage and cover crop management since the NRI Project was started in 1999. Peter will join our CIG project group at the upcoming cover crop workshop at the Paicines Ranch February 7 – 9 and he will share some of his thinking with our group at that event. We sincerely thank Peter Donovan for coming by the NRI Project and sharing his ideas with us!
Peter Donovan of the Soil Carbon Coalition visiting the NRI Project field in Five Points, CA. January 26, 2019.
