Soil Health Field Day: Understanding the Biological Soil Tests

This is a 201 level workshop.

Join SFA consultants Kent Solberg and Jonathan Kilpatrick, along with staff from the Lake of the Woods and Roseau County Soil and Water Conservation Districts for a soil health field day in Northern Minnesota.

We will start in the classroom with a session on the biological soil tests suite (the Haney, PLFA, and Total Nutrient Digestion). This session will cover the different types of tests, how to interpret the results, and the potential impact on our operations.

Afterwards, we will apply what we’ve learned by reviewing the results of this same suite of soil health tests collected by the SWCD staff this spring from local producers’ farms.

We will then tour the 3 farms where the tests were taken to see the crops and do hands-on soil health testing (water infiltration, aggregation, and penetrometer) and visually assess the condition of the soils.

With a better understanding of how soil functions and how biology unlocks nutrients and makes them available to the plants, you can learn how to lower input costs in your cropping rotation!

Registration: It is free to attend. Advance registration requested, walkups welcome. Lunch is provided.

Please come prepared for muddy fields and potential rain.

Presented in collaboration with Lake of the Woods and Roseau County Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

Info:  Jonathan Kilpatrick, jonathan@sfa-mn.org

SFA staff and volunteers occasionally take photos during our workshops, cafe chats and field days for promotional purposes and to use as documentation of events to share with our funders.  If you do not wish to be photographed, please let our event host know — we’ll make every effort to make sure you are not photographed.