What is a local soil health group? It’s a group of farmers that provide range of support including discussions, sharing experiences, learning with and from each other, bringing in specialist for education, completing testing, doing test plots, working together for obtaining seed and equipment, obtaining funding for projects, and being leaders in their area willing to share their experiences and knowledge. These teams typically partner with their local offices to provide support to the group. Some are a single county, some are multi-county. One thing that is the same with all of the local soil health groups – the increase in implementation of soil health practices and understanding of logistics for application, management, and trouble shooting.
There are local soil health groups across the state doing great things and working together to reduce the learning curve – if we can learn from others we will reduce mistakes/failures and progress more effectively. The Minnesota Soil Health Coalition supports the creation and continuation of these groups because having the local contacts are key to success. Contact your local field office to learn if there is a soil health group near you, there may be one just a county away that can provide tremendous information and support while we navigate through the experiences and decisions of integrating soil health into our management.
