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One conference is offering two tracks of outstanding Soil Health information. Whether you live in an urban or rural area, there’s a Soil Health workshop for you on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts State Meeting – “Conservation@Home” and “Revitalizing Agriculture Systems” at the Edmond Convention Center, 2833 Conference Drive in Edmond.
While the State Meeting actually runs Sunday, Feb. 23 through Tuesday, Feb. 25, this one day is devoted to soil health speakers from both Oklahoma and nationally.
Sarah Blaney, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts, on Wednesday said, “Thanks to a generous donor, we’re able to offer 50% off registration for the next 40 people! It’s a smorgasbord of regenerative land management that you don’t want to miss.”
Registration for either of the two Soil Health Tracks is $50 for participants and $25 for students, and includes lunch.
To register online, please go to okconservation.org .
For questions regarding registration or sponsorship, please contact Kayla Anderson, (405) 819-4593, kaylaanderson@okconservation.org, or Sarah Blaney, (517)763-8609, sarahblaney@okconservation.org.
Following is more information about each of the Soil Health tracks:
"Conservation @Home: Building Community Resiliency"
Too often we think one word can only be linked to one subject.
Take for example, conservation. There are those who immediately view it as a rural-only topic, focusing on medium to large farming and ranching operations.
“Conservation is for everyone,” said Sarah Blaney, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD).
That is precisely why “Conservation @Home: Building Community Resiliency” is the first workshop of the OACD State Meeting to be dedicated solely to the small, urban and suburban producer and homeowner.
“Our goal is to provide a workshop with something for everyone who is passionate about the environment,” Blaney said. “Whether that is adding native pollinator habitat to your yard or learning how to reduce what goes into landfills by starting your own composting project.”
The “Conservation @Home” workshop will be held Feb. 25 during the three-day 2020 OACD State Meeting at the Edmond Convention Center, 2833 Conference Drive in Edmond. Topics covered throughout the day will include Composting as a Soil Health Tool, Interconnections between Soil & Water, Science over Politics, Conservation Landscaping, Native Oklahoma Pollinators and How to Make Money with Urban Farming.
Mark King, an Organics Management Specialist, will present on the topic of “Compost as a Soil Health Tool.” King is originally from Winthrop, Maine and has been with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MEDEP) since 1991. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in biology from the University of Maine and a Master’s degree in zoology from Southern Illinois University. Currently, he works as an Environmental Specialist in the Department’s Sustainability Division, where he serves as the Department’s compost contact. Additionally, he serves as the Department’s representative on the Maine Compost Team and helped develop the internationally renowned Maine Compost School where he serves as a faculty member and director.
He provides on-going technical assistance to new and existing commercial and agricultural compost facilities through compost facility design, operations assistance and compost process trouble-shooting, and is currently working on a project to promote statewide composting of pre and post-consumer food residuals as an alternative to costly landfill and incineration disposal.
Malarie Gotcher, the Water Conservation Manager for the City of Oklahoma City Utilities Department, will speak about “Interconnectedness between soil and water conservation.” Gotcher received a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science and a Master’s Degree in Plant and Soil Sciences from Oklahoma State University. Gotcher and her team work with community members, businesses, and City departments to increase water conservation awareness and assist with implementation of best management practices. During her time with the Water Conservation Section, her team has been selected for the Oklahoma Water Resources Board’s Water for 2060 Excellence Award and Oklahoma City Beautiful’s Visionary Award.
The luncheon speaker, Brad Carl, an External Affairs and Climate Specialist with The Nature Conservancy of Oklahoma, will speak on “Science over Politics.” An Emmy-award winner, over the past eight years he worked as a certified broadcast meteorologist and reporter covering severe storms, devastating flooding, extreme weather, and climate issues in Montana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. He also led an award-wining sustainability team that reduced the Cox Media Group Tulsa (FOX23 / KRMG) location’s garbage by more than 60 percent in less than two years.
Attendees can also hear Ray Moranz, Xerces Society/Natural Resources Conservation Service Grazing Lands Pollinator Ecologist, speak about “Creating Habitat for Pollinators in your Yard or on your Acreage.” The Xerces Society is an international non-profit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat. Moranz also serves as a Partner Biologist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and is based at the NRCS Field Office in Stillwater. His current focus is assisting the NRCS with planning and implementation of pollinator (and especially monarch butterfly) conservation efforts in the central United States. Moranz began studying the effects of fire and grazing on plant and butterfly communities in 2004, and earned his Ph.D. in Natural Resource Ecology and Management from Oklahoma State University in 2010.
“Conservation Landscaping” will be presented by Mark Bays and Connie Scothorn.
Bays is the Oklahoma Forestry Services Community Forestry Coordinator. He has worked in traditional forestry in Colorado and California and was self-employed in Oklahoma and Texas as a consultant in urban and community forestry, arboriculture and tree care. He has been with Oklahoma Forestry Services for the past 28 years where he has been helping individuals and city leaders across the state understand and appreciate the value, benefits and services trees in communities provide. He helps Oklahoma improve environmental conditions throughout the state through education of proper tree selection, planting and maintenance programs. Bays favorite quote is, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” Scothorn, American Society of Landscape Architects, (ASLA) and Principal of CLS & Associates, Landscape Architecture, is an Author of the book Oklahoma Native Plants--A Guide to Designing Landscapes to Attract Birds & Butterflies.
"Revitalizing Agriculture Systems"
Read the words of Dr. Jill Clapperton.
After doing so, close your eyes for a second and absorb them. Think about your farm or ranch and the potential beneath your feet.
Here’s what Dr. Clapperton, a world-renowned soil health expert, once said, “When we are standing on the ground, we are really standing on the roof of another world. Living in the soil are plant roots, viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa, mites, nematodes, worms, ants, maggots and other insects and insect larvae (grubs), and larger animals: the soil biota. Indeed, the number of living organisms below ground is considered to be far greater than that above ground.”
Clapperton is the keynote speaker for “Revitalizing Agriculture Systems,” the producer soil health track during the 2020 Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD) State Meeting, Feb. 25 at the Edmond Convention Center, 2833 Conference Drive in Edmond. This is part of a three-day conference.
Clapperton is the Principal Scientist and CEO of Rhizoterra Inc. She is an internationally recognized educator on how to create and maintain healthy productive soils that produce tasty nutrient dense food. Clapperton has a PhD in Plant Ecophysiology, and worked as the Rhizosphere Ecologist for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for 16 years before founding Rhizoterra Inc. She said, “We know that healthy soils diversify and regenerate essential ecosystem services; improving air and water quality, the health of ourselves and our animals, and so much more.”
Clapperton is part of an impressive lineup of speakers for the fourth annual producer soil health track at the OACD State Meeting.
National speakers also include Loran Steinlage of Iowa, and a panel discussion about how to market soil health to increase profitability for producers featuring Jason Weller of Land O'Lakes SUSTAIN, Barry Knight of Indigo Ag, and Rod Snyder from Field to Market.
Steinlage and wife, Brenda specialize in adapting practices and equipment unique to the edge of the Driftless area. The Steinlages are evolving to companion/relay no-till cropping system which is focused on cycling plants to keep a living plant in the soil at all times to help aid in moisture management and weed suppression. They are currently producing corn, soybeans, cereal rye, winter wheat, malt barley and buckwheat.
Weller, Senior Director of Sustainability at Land O’Lakes, Inc., joined Land O’Lakes, Inc., in 2017 where he develops conservation solutions for the farmer cooperative’s members and owners. He previously served as Chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the nation’s largest working lands conservation organization that partners with farmers and ranchers to deliver assistance to protect and improve the quality of their operations’ natural resources. Prior to serving as Chief, Jason served on the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, the U.S. House Budget Committee, and in the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Knight, head of Indigo Research Partners, oversees the world's largest agriculture laboratory. Prior to joining Indigo, he held senior positions in agricultural companies as CEO of Cresco Ag, CCO of Pinnacle Ag Holdings, and President of Jimmy Sanders. Knight received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomy from Oklahoma State University and a Master of Science degree in Agronomy specializing in plant breeding from Mississippi State University.
Snyder is President of Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, a diverse alliance working to create opportunities across the agricultural supply chain in the United States for continuous improvements in productivity, environmental quality, and human well-being. Prior to this role, Snyder held positions as Public Policy Director for the National Corn Growers Association and Government Affairs Leader for CropLife America. He is particularly recognized for his work at the intersection of agricultural and environmental issues. In 2015, Snyder co-founded the Sustainable Agriculture Summit, which has grown to be the largest and most prominent annual sustainable agriculture conference in North America.
Plus this meeting will highlight some of Oklahoma’s outstanding producers. Jimmy Emmons of Leedey, the Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) Regional Coordinator for the USDA Southern Plains Region and the 2017 Leopold Conservation Award Recipient, will serve as the producer track emcee for the day. Russ Jackson of Mountain View, the 2018 Leopold Conservation Award Recipient, is among the speakers, and there will be a focus on improving the quality of grazing lands soil health with presentations by Kim Barker of the Oklahoma Grazinglands Coalition and producer Bill Payne.
"OACD is thrilled to be able to offer the ‘Revitalizing Agriculture Systems’ workshop this year,” OACD President Larry Wright said. “Oklahoma producers are some of the best in the nation when it comes to conservation and this workshop is a great continuing educational opportunity for us all."
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