Episode 23 - 25: A Healthy, Fertile Celebration of World Soils Day 2023

Since October 2021, Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt have had sixty conversations about the health and fertility of soil as part of the podcast. To celebrate World Soils Day 2023, we are sharing three recaps of conversations that were quite memorable with Dr. David R. Montgomery and Anne Bikle authors of What Your Food Ate and Growing a Revolution; Clare Tallamy of Virginia Tech's 2022 Soil Judging Team; and Lee Rinehart a grazing specialist with the National Center for Appropriate Technology.

World Soils Day was organized to bring attention and focus on the importance of healthy soil and the sustainable management of soil resources. David Montgomery and Anne Bikle start the conversation off with a discussion about soil life and how the health of soil can ultimately affect diet and nutrition at a basic level. Clare Tallamy gives a summary of how to assess and judge soil from inside a pit, while Lee Rinehart emphasizes how critical soil health is for grazing management, water quality, and drought resilience.

To join the Virginia Soil Health Coalition and listen to the other 4 The Soil: A Conversation episodes, please visit https://www.virginiasoilhealth.org/ and https://www.4thesoil.org/podcast

To nourish and (re)imagine collaboration, conservation, and community, plan to register and attend the upcoming 2023 Virginia Farm to Table Conference.

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.