All agriculture starts with the ground we stand on, and the folks at Farm Foundation are doing their part to promote conversations about healthy soils. At the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention Taylor Truckey caught up with Farm Foundation’s Mary Thompson and talked a bit about Soil Renaissance, an initiative by her group and the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation to bring attention to the value of soils and healthy soils.
“Soil is a non-renewable resource, at least in our lifetimes, yet, it is an essential part of a productive agricultural system that produces the food needed for a vibrant society,” she said. “So we’re trying to bring attention to soil health and the various aspects of it.”
Mary said there are four specific issues Soil Renaissance hopes to highlight: establishing standards for healthy soil depending on the location, the economics of soil health, research, and finally, education, giving producers the tools needed to preserve and promote healthy soils. She points out since Farm Foundation is not an advocacy group, they just look to help people have the conversations and debates to further the overall health of American agriculture. The response so far has been very positive.
“Regardless of where you are in the food value chain, conventional or organic producer, healthy soil is the basic element you start with,” Mary said.
For more information, check out the website, SoilRenaissance.org.
Listen to Taylor’s interview with Mary here: [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/nafb/nafb14-farm-foundation-mary-thompson.mp3″ text=”Interview with Mary Thompson, Farm Foundation VP of Communications”]
2014 NAFB Convention Photos
