The Soil Health Institute (SHI) has unveiled the “Enriching Soil, Enhancing Life” Soil Health Action Plan during a National Press Club event.

“This is an exciting time to be working in soil health,” said SHI president and CEO Wayne Honeycutt. “The action plan identifies critical goals and priorities. It helps identify key gaps in our knowledge and implementation…and we’ve identified specific actionable steps to achieve these things.”

Former USDA-NRCS chief Bruce Knight moderated the unveiling of the plan which was developed from four years of stakeholder input, beginning with the Soil Renaissance in 2013. Agricultural industry thought leaders, farmers, ranchers, scientists, government agency leaders, and non-governmental organizations provided input into the plan, which will be used to drive advancements in soil health.

National Corn Growers Association board member Keith Alverson of South Dakota spoke about the importance of soil health from the perspective of a 6th generation farmer. “We as farmers realize that healthy soil is really the lifeblood to what we have,” said Alverson. “If we provide for the soil it will provide for us.”

Read the soil health action plan and download Honeycutt and Alverson comments here: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/shi-honeycutt-alverson.mp3″ text=”SHI CEO Wayne Honeycutt and NCGA farmer Keith Alverson on Soil Health Plan”]