The impacts of climate change vary regionally, and farmers in western Pennsylvania are already grappling with increasingly frequent extreme weather events. Amid a growing awareness of the deep impact soil has on every aspect of our biodiversity, health, climate, water, and resilience, more folks are listening to farmers and researchers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere who have been championing the importance of soil health for decades.

Soil health management systems encompass a wide variety of practices and assessment approaches and are described in a variety of ways—regenerative agriculture, organics, regenerative organic, agroecology, sustainable agriculture, and more. These approaches share common goals of protecting natural resources on and off the farm, improving productivity and profitability, and safeguarding the functioning of our planet and its health now and well into the future.

On this tour, we’ll learn about long-term soil health research happening in Pennsylvania and explore how soil health relates to improved production, watershed health, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and more. We’ll visit a couple of farms and meet with farmers focused on applying the principles of soil health management to their production. We’ll also learn how research, modeling, and monitoring efforts are being used to help tell the story of the benefits of healthy soil, and support the spread of best practices in soil stewardship.

This day-long site visit is offered to participants at the 2019 SAFSF Forum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Host organizations include:
• Fallen Aspen Farm
• Kretschmann Family Organic Farm
• Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA)
• Pennsylvania No Till Alliance
• Rodale Institute
• Stroud Water Research Center
• Western Pennsylvania Conservancy