FARMINGTON — The University of Maine Cooperative Extension, along with the Maine Grass Farmers Network, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), and Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment will host three workshops to demonstrate the principles of soil health, and how livestock management can influence soil quality and the environment.

As part of a Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) project, “Identification and Remediation of Compaction on Northeast Pasture Soils,” the New York Soil Health Trailer participates in field days across the Northeast to demonstrate to producers how improved soil health helps their operation by providing technical soil services and grazing management education.

It is equipped with a rainfall simulator to demonstrate soil principles and show the impact of rainfall on infiltration and runoff. This event also will allow participants to evaluate soil compaction using various tools.

Presentations by Fay Benson of Cornell Cooperative Extension Cortland County and Rick Kersbergen of UMaine Extension will cover preventing loss of nutrients and top soil through soil erosion by strengthening soil aggregates, identifying compaction in soils, understanding how carbon is removed from the atmosphere and stored in soil, and improving the soils ability to recycle and store nutrients.
The workshops will be held at three locations on Maine dairy farms:

12:30–3 p.m. Sept. 3 at Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment, Freeport
10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Sept. 4 at Rainbow Valley Farm, 3535 West River Road, Sidney
10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Sept. 5 at Hardy Farm, 360 Weeks Mills Road, Farmington

For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation contact 207.342.5971; richard.kersbergen@maine.edu.