WASHINGTON SOIL HEALTH INITIATIVE PROVIDING SOILS DATA ACTIONABLE SERIES

To help the agricultural community understand and make sound soil health decisions, the Washington Soil Health Initiative is promoting a four-part webinar series “Making Soils Data Actionable.” This webinar is open to farmers, agricultural advisors, extension staff and decision makers to learn about available resources and how to act on soil chemistry, biology, and physics data. Each webinar undertakes a different discussion on soil health.

March 13, 2024, 12:00-1:00 p.m., Chemical Discussion

Adam Peterson, Senior GIS and Science Specialist at the Thurston Conservation District, will utilize the district’s soil testing program as an example to share efficient strategies to interpret large volumes of tests considering the farm scale, fertilizer preferences, and specific crop needs.

March 20, 2024, 12:00-1:00 p.m., Biological Discussion

Lindsey du Toit, Washington State University Professor and Chair of the Department of Plant Pathology, will share information derived from over two decades of research and extension on how to minimize spinach seed losses to soilborne fungus and the key role of growers in doubling Pacific Northwest seed production ability.

 March 27, 2024, 12:00-1:00 p.m., Physical Discussion

The importance of soil moisture data and the pros and cons of different types of soil moisture sensors will be discussed by Troy Peters, Washington State University Department of Biological Systems Engineering Professor. In addition, he will discuss how to interpret and use the data on soil moisture to maximize profitable irrigation water management.

April 3, 2024, 12:00-1:00 p.m., Soil Health Report Generator

Washington State Department of Agriculture Data Scientist Jadey Ryan will demonstrate the {soils} R package that provides visualization and reporting on soil health data. She’ll show how R and Quarto can be used to create customized, interactive reports to understand their soil data. The {soil} program will be released sometime in March.

Register Here for the Webinar Series!