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Celebrating Success!

Celebrating Success!. Agriculture and Natural Resources Conference December 13-15, 2005. Soil Quality Outreach. Soil Management Work Group, Team Grains Presenter: Mark Kopecky, Price County. Why we needed to do this program.

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Celebrating Success!

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  1. Celebrating Success! Agriculture and Natural Resources Conference December 13-15, 2005

  2. Soil Quality Outreach Soil Management Work Group, Team Grains Presenter: Mark Kopecky, Price County

  3. Why we needed to do this program • Situation: Wisconsin farmers are growing more soybeans and corn, leading to more tillage with bigger machinery. Without proper management, soil quality will decline. • Audience: Primarily farmers, but also agency agricultural professionals and private sector technical specialists. • Relevance: Soil quality affects crop health and yield, surface and groundwater quality, air quality, and agrichemical dependence.

  4. What we did about it • Program:The Soil Management Work Group planned an outreach program for 2005 consisting of two parts: • A series of field days on farms to take soil quality education directly to farmers, and • A PowerPoint presentation to help general audiences understand the basics of soil quality and why it’s important. • Delivery: • We conducted four field days in August and September in Fond du Lac, Barron, Adams, and Columbia Counties, and • Dick Wolkowski presented the soil quality PPT at the 2005 Soil and Water Management meetings (eight locations around the state). • Audience:Farmers (primarily) and other agricultural professionals • Partners:The Wisconsin Soil Quality Team (representatives from UWEX, UW-Madison Soil Science Department, CIAS, NRCS, and Land Conservation)

  5. So, what happened? • Field day attendance: 139 (approximately one-third farmers and the rest from agencies/ private industry) • SWM Meeting attendance: Approximately 500. • Outcomes/impacts of this program? • We sent a pre/post survey to all the field day participants we had mailing addresses for (90) and have received 41 back so far. • 16 of these are from farmers • The farmers who responded reported increasing their understanding of the nine “take-home” points by an average of 1.2 on a 5-point scale.

  6. So, what happened? Outcomes/impacts, continued: -The greatest increase in understanding was in the notion that many soil quality indicators can be observed or measured easily on the farm with minimal equipment (average increase of 1.8 on a 5-point scale). -The farmers who responded reported that they will make changes in their farming practices based on what they learned at the field days (18 intended changes reported among 16 farmers).

  7. Why was this a great success? We were able to bring together team members from a variety of agencies and institutions (research, outreach/education, technical assistance, and production) to work on a common goal. We are helping to create awareness and understanding of an emerging (?) issue that impacts both production agriculture and environmental quality. Economic, environmental, social or other benefits? Time will tell: Stay tuned!

  8. Wisconsin Soil Quality Team2005 Members • Teri Balser • Ken Barnett • Jerry Clark • Kevin Erb • Don Genrich • Matt Hanson • Mark Kopecky • Dave Luciani • Diane Mayerfeld • Ann MacGuidwin • Laura Paine • Jean Stramel • Becky Wagner • Dick Wolkowski

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