Protecting and Improving Your Crops From the Soil Up

Healthy soil translates into healthy produce.  While this maxim is known and understood by Beginning Farmers, many would like to do more to promote soil physical and microbial health to benefit their crops and the ecosystem.  Following a tour of Mud Creek Farm (led by Erin Bullock), Crystal Stewart of Cornell Cooperative Extension will focus on best management techniques for organic farmers trying to eliminate or prevent garlic bloat nematode and soil-borne pests and pathogens.  Participants will learn the management techniques that promote soil physical health, reduce soil compaction, encourage healthy soil microbial and promote productive crops and higher yields. 

A potluck dinner follows the event; please bring food to share and a place setting.

Crystal Stewart works as a Vegetable Specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension and teaches an online Cornell University Course each winter.  Erin Bullock runs Mud Creek Farm, where the mission is to “use responsible farming practices which sustain and improve the health and vitality of the entire farm system, including the soil, the air, the water, the plants, the animals, and the people we feed.”

Some scholarships may be available for Beginning Farmers to attend this workshop.  For more information on scholarships or the content of this workshop, please contact Rachel at (585) 271-1979 ext. 511. Please register for this event by visiting the NOFA-NY Shopping page or by calling Katie (Membership & Registration Coordinator) at (585)271-1979 ext 512.

Supported by the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA, Grant #2010-49400-21847.