S5 - E9: Soil Health is Attainable with Anthony Beery of Beery Farms, Part I

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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 - E9: Soil Health is Attainable with Anthony Beery of Beery Farms, Part I

4 The Soil: A Conversation

16 minutes

6 months ago

S5 - E9: Soil Health is Attainable with Anthony Beery of Beery Farms, Part I

Soil health is attainable. Anthony Beery of Beery Farms and Cumberland Hay and Straw LLC shares that message with Mary Sketch Bryant and Jeff Ishee based on his farming experience and journey. Anthony grew up in the Shenandoah Valley where he and his father Danny raised dairy cows and poultry. Anthony benefitted from his father's mentorship and encouragement to be open to new ideas and experimenting.

Anthony and his family moved to Cumberland County in 2018 to begin custom crop production and start Cumberland Hay & Straw LLC. Anthony received the 2024 Carl Luebben Soil Health and Water Quality Award at the Virginia Farm-to-Table Conference for his commitment, example, and mentorship of other farmers.

If you are just starting your soil health journey, Anthony emphasizes taking a step and starting with the basics: learn the soil type and previous land use, test for nutrient content and pH, and understand the areas where nutrients are low and high. For Anthony, soil compaction was a limiting factor on his farm that started his commitment to earnest no-till farming, experimenting with diverse cover crop rotations, and continued devotion to core principles of soil health.

As always, we encourage you to start your soil health journey and follow the four principles of soil health: 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 attainable and we can all be 4 The Soil!

To enjoy the recent We Are 4 the Soil song created by the Flip Charts, please visit https://www.4thesoil.org/#we-are-4-the-soil-video. 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.