S5 - E15: Building Confidence and Knowledge through Mentorship with Dara Booher, Pt. II

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4 The Soil: A Conversation

Eric Bendfeldt

112 episodes

1 week ago

Soil. What is it, really? It’s more than the dirt under our feet and the ground we stand on.

Soil is living and life-giving.

Listen as we unlock the mysteries of soil by speaking with people at the forefront of the soil health movement.

“4 The Soil: A Conversation” is part of the 4 The Soil Awareness Campaign led by Virginia Cooperative Extension and the Virginia Soil Health Coalition. The campaign’s purpose is to raise awareness of soil as an agricultural and natural resource critical to social, economic, and environmental health.

Hear and learn from farmers, agricultural professionals, conservation leaders, master gardeners, and many more on how and why to be 4 The Soil.

The podcast is a collaboration of Virginia Tech's School of Plant and Environmental Sciences and Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation, Virginia Cooperative Extension, On The Farm Radio, USDA-NRCS, and the Virginia Soil Health Coalition with specific funding from the Agua Fund, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and Virginia Tech’s Department of Agriculture, Leadership, and Community Education’s Community Viability grant program.

Stay tuned for the release of our first episode in October!

All content for 4 The Soil: A Conversation is the property of Eric Bendfeldt and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Science

Education,

Life Sciences

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S5 - E15: Building Confidence and Knowledge through Mentorship with Dara Booher, Pt. II

4 The Soil: A Conversation

17 minutes

3 months ago

S5 - E15: Building Confidence and Knowledge through Mentorship with Dara Booher, Pt. II

Building confidence and knowledge through mentorship is necessary for farmers to overcome fears and take bigger steps towards meeting their goals. Dara Booher wears many educational hats. Dara is the coordinator of the Virginia Forage and Grassland Council's farmer-mentor program and the facilitator of the Virginia Farmer Mentor Network, a collaboration of Virginia State University, the Virginia Forage and Grassland Council, the Virginia No-Till Alliance (VANTAGE), and Virginia Tech's Eastern Shore Agriculture Research and Education Center (AREC).

In her work with youth and farmers, Dara recommends getting to know people and meeting them where they are, particularly for peer-to-peer knowledge exchange and understanding people's goals, aspirations, and motivations.

The Virginia Farmer Mentor Network provides mentoring connections to any farmer interested in peer-to-peer learning on crop production, grazing, direct and intermediated marketing, and beginning farming. To find out more, contact mentor coordinator and facilitator Dara Booher at VFGCFarmerMentor@gmail.com or 540.481.6001 (call or text).

For details about Virginia's Graze 300 program and principles, please visit https://ext.vt.edu/agriculture/graze-300.html

As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers and follow the four core soil health principles:

1) Keep the soil covered -- Cover crops are our friends;
2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Practice no-till or gentle tillage in your field or garden as much as possible;
3) Maximize living roots year-round -- to improve biodiversity and life in the soil; and
4) Energize with diversity -- through crop rotation and/or livestock integration.

Yes, soil health is a great conversation starter because we can all be 4 The Soil and for the future!

To enjoy recent 4 The Soil blog posts and additional soil health resources, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/blog and https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/. For questions about soil and water conservation practices and outdoor educational activities for youth, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.