Preparing Fallow Land - How To Begin or Expand a Farm Using Regenerative Practices

In this workshop you’ll learn about regenerative principles and practices, with a focus on guiding principles for building soil and crop health by improving your rhizosphere. You’ll also learn simple techniques for conducting an in-field soil health assessment for your farm, how to submit a soil sample to a lab to test for soil fertility (nutrients imbalances in the soil). We’ll also cover additional options for submitting a soil sample to the UH Crow Lab to test for soil health indicators, such as the carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratio, percentage of Organic Matter, CO2 burst (measure of the amount of soil life in your soil), and enzymes indicating proper nutrient cycling, how to establish a baseline and a simple monitoring plan to measure your improvements to regenerate your land and restore on-farm ecosystem services. The cost of this workshop is $150 and includes a soil fertility lab tests and recommendations based on lab results (The cost for those who sign up for the entire Growers Network Workshop Package is $85.).

• Intro to regenerative farming principles, practices and equipment used in preparing fallow land for production; 

• Practices to restore soil health & function (soil air, water and biology);

• Managing compaction;

• Managing organic matter and soil aggregates;

• Managing plant and soil microbe nutrients.

• Soil fertility tests & in-field soil health assessments;

• Restoring nutrient cycling & establishing closed-loop systems;

• Carbon and nitrogen cycle & onsite resources;

• Maximizing the water cycle;

• Introduction to the rhizophagy cycle.

• Establishing a baseline & system to monitor improvements over time.