The first session is designed for early career conservation staff and will provide participants a thorough overview of soil health principles and best practices. The second session is designed for conservation staff at any stage of their career and will offer a more in-depth discussion around soil health with nationally known soil health expert Mike Kucera.

First session:  8:30-11:00 AM – early career conservation staff

• Introduction to soils and soil health
• How to communicate these concepts to producers
• Soil health as a system and not just individual practices – how to stack practices
• Hands-on discussion with tillage equipment- what it does to the soil and impact on soil health
• Roundtable discussion on working with producers on soil health practices
• Understanding the basics when looking at a soil pit

Second session: 11:00 am – 2:00 pm –Early and mid career conservation staff

• Compaction, infiltration and soil health: Learning from what you see in the soil profile
• Next Level Soil Health by Mike Kucera
• Success roundtable – addressing local soil health challenges
• Economics of soil health/soil conservation

The event is free and open to any conservation agency staff/partner organization staff. Pre-registration is required to ensure enough handouts and materials. Lunch will be provided for all pre-registrants. Space is limited and is on a first come/first serve basis. Event sponsors include UW Madison, Division of Extension’s Conservation Professional Training Program and NRCS.

Please note, while registration is free, it is required by September 9th