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On-Farm Field Day: Soil Health and Recycled Amendments
We hosted a field day at the site of our research study on the effects of sanitized human urine, biochar made from biosolids, biochar made from sawdust, and compost (in various combinations) on soil health and crop yield. The field day summarized the culmination of a 3-year study funded by USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Agriculture Research. Our partners at Cornell Cooperative Extension are hosting a sister field day at their parallel study site in Long Island.
At the field day, we presented about our research goals, preliminary findings on both soil health and social research, and shared sample jars of all the different amendments we used in the study. Our colleague Deb Neher (Associate Director of UVM’s new Soil Health Research and Extension Center) shared insights about soil health, biochar, as well as updates from a recent study she conducted on liquid fertilizers from Clivus Multrum compost toilets–finding that it performed on-par with synthetic N fertilizers and didn’t introduce contamination risk. Learn more via the handouts linked on our blog.
Field Day Handouts:
Rich Earth Institute Field Day Handout
Deb Neher: Understanding the Vineyard: Microbiome and Soil Health
This event is made possible thanks to funding from the USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Program: Research for Novel Approaches in Sustainable Agriculture. Project Title: “Novel Biochar from Biosolids and Source Separated Human Urine: Soil Health Impacts and Farmer Perspectives.”
