February 2018 | Edition 2
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North Coast Soil Health Hub
Newsletter
News, events, and tools to maximize soil health on farms in
Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino counties
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Welcome!
Dear readers,
In this edition of our quarterly newsletter, we
profile a Mendocino County wine grower
partnering with his RCD to protect soil health.
We also dive deeper into upcoming events in our
Soil Health Workshops
series.
Learn more about the services available to growers through their local Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) and NRCS offices for
vineyard soil health assessments
.
Lastly, we invite growers to
participate in a survey
that will help shape the way the Soil Hub supports farmers and directs its research.
Enjoy!
The Soil Health Hub Team
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How Do Farmers Use
SoilHub.org?
There are many ways to engage in the Hub:
The SoilHub.org website is a platform for sharing information, having discussions, and connecting farmers with the resources they need to be resilient and sustainable in the North Coast region and throughout the state.
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March 9: Vineyard Soil Health Symposium
9am-12pm at Sonoma County Farm Bureau, 3589 Westwind Blvd., Santa Rosa, CA
Professionals and growers will discuss vineyard practices that improve soil health and sequester carbon. Topics include cover crops, compost, alternative tillage techniques and planting woody plants. Each topic will feature an introduction from a knowledgeable professional, followed by a grower panel who will share their experience, perspective, and considerations for implementing the practices.
Read more
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May 1:
Sonoma Winegrower’s Annual Sustainable Winegrowing Field Day
8am-1:30pm at Shone Farm, 7450 Steve Olson Lane, Forestville, CA
The Gold Ridge and Sonoma RCDs will host a seminar on cover crops and alternative tillage practices as part of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission’s annual Sustainable Winegrowing Field Day. The seminar will feature an indoor presentation by Glenn McGourty, UCCE Viticulture Farm Advisor-Mendocino County, followed by a field tour to look at cover crops in the vineyard, and the expansive demonstration garden planted by Kamprath Seeds, Inc., which features a wide variety of cover crops. Additionally, local vendors will have innovative tillage equipment onsite for growers to look at and see in-field demonstrations.
Read more
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May 3: Enhancing Soil Health in Vineyards
8:30am-1pm at Gamble Ranch, Yountville, CA, $25 Registration Fee
Join Napa County RCD in a workshop focused on improving the soil health of Napa County vineyards. Registration includes lunch and a field tour. To RSVP, contact Anna@NapaRCD.org.
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Farmer Feature:
Norman Kobler
of Ferrington Vineyards
By Kristin Cooper, Mendocino County RCD
Norman Kobler, manager and co-owner of Ferrington Vineyards, is one of the first to participate in the North Coast Soil Health Hub. He has participated in a suite of soil health enhancing projects including a demonstration site, ongoing field trials, soil health assessments, and he has a Carbon Farm Plan being developed for the site. A member of a local, multi-generational grape-growing family, he still finds value in continuing to experiment with how to further enhance his vineyard's high-quality grapes, water use efficiency, ecosystem resiliency and overall sustainability.
Norman Kobler has agreed to have Ferrington Vineyard featured as a demonstration site for the North Coast Soil Health Hub. The demonstration site is located near Boonville, CA on the valley floor of Anderson Valley.
Read more.
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Soil Health Assessments
Soil health is measured through multi-factor assessments that can include biological, chemical, and physical characteristics. Your local RCD office can perform a soil health assessment in your vineyard by collecting soil samples and testing them for a standard suite of soil health parameters such as bulk density, total carbon, pH, and available water holding capacity. The assessment results can help you better understand where there may be room to improve the health of your soil through practices such as reduced tillage, cover cropping, and amending your vineyard soils.
Soil Health Assessments Underway in North Coast Vineyards
With a Specialty Block Grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Hub partners are now conducting Soil Health Assessments with participating vineyards in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. Traditional soil tests generally focus on chemical soil properties such as nutrient levels and pH. While this is important information for crop production, its narrow focus is an inadequate measure of sustainable soil function. The concept of soil health recognizes that soil is a living system with numerous processes that promote vine health and perform essential ecosystem services. Healthy, functioning soils are able to cycle nutrients effectively, store carbon, improve water storage, reduce runoff and erosion, provide good aeration for root growth, be resilient to drought and reduce disease and pest problems. Hub partners are using a quantitative approach to Soil Health Assessments using both field measurements and lab analysis in order to provide non-subjective measures to interpret soil health.
Read more
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Attention, Grapegrowers:
North Coast Soil Health Hub Needs Your Input!
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Please take this survey by
April 1st, 2018
to tell us:
- What types of soil health practices are you doing?
- What types of soil health practices do you want to do, but can't?
- What types of soil health practices are you curious to learn more about?
We know your time is precious. We ask for it so that we can tailor our workshops, demonstrations and SoilHub.org to meet your needs.
For vineyards in the North Coast region of CA, what does soil health mean, and how do we achieve it? Napa County, Sonoma, Gold Ridge, and Mendocino County RCDs, along with NRCS, and others across the region, are in the second year of a grant-funded project to generate discussion, demonstrations, and science on soil health/soil carbon as it relates to vineyards in our region.
Thank you for your time!
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What is soil health?
According to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service “Soil health (...) is defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans.” The soil health concept recognizes that soil is a living system with properties and processes that perform essential ecosystem services. Soil health is measured through multi-factor assessments that include biological, chemical, and physical characteristics that help with understanding vital soil functions.
Read more
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Principles of Soil Health
• Keep soil covered as much as possible.
• Use plant diversity to increase diversity in the soil.
• Keep living roots in the soil as long as possible.
• Disturb the soil as little as possible
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Discover More at SoilHub.org
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