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On-Farm Field Day: Soil Health and Recycled Amendments
Date: July 10, 2025, 3 – 5pm
Location: Spring Tree Road, Brattleboro, Vermont, 05301 (Head to the West River Trailhead; we will be in the Hamilton Farm corn field to the right.)
Register Here
(Registration encouraged but not required)
Explore cutting-edge agricultural research with the Rich Earth Institute at a special On-Farm Field Day in Brattleboro, VT. This event highlights insights from a three-year study investigating 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. We will also feature diverse farmers’ perspectives on these amendments gathered through social research.
Attendees will:
- Explore preliminary soil health and social research findings during a brief presentation
- Examine nine different soil amendment combinations tested in the field
- Hear insights from soil ecologist Deb Neher (Associate Director of UVM’s new Soil Health Research and Extension Center)
- Explore innovative urine fertilization tools like Rich Earth’s custom urine applicator.
- Take home a copy of Rich Earth’s Farmer Guide to Fertilizing with Urine, summarizing over 12 years of on-farm research
Please consider attending a Dialogue Group that will be meet after the Field Day event:
The Rich Earth Institute, in partnership with Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension, is interested in better understanding the perspectives of a range of farmers, agricultural advisors and other land managers about the use of novel soil amendments – including human urine, biochar made from biosolids, and biochar made from other biomass such as wood pellets. Attendees at the field day are invited to participate in a dialogue group following the Field Day from 5:15 – 6:45, next to the field at Integrated Solar, 121 Spring Tree Road. We will be providing stipends of $40 per participant, and responses will remain confidential. Refreshments served!
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.”
