Studying Soil Stewardship

HOPEWELL, Ohio – The Muskingum Soil and Water Conservation District held an agricultural based seminar on the importance of cover crops. 

Ag Resource Specialist Van Slack shared how his organization is educating farmers on how they can better conserve the soil that nurtures the crops, which sustain the farm.

“This is kind of a cover crop field day. Clifton Martin the extension agent and I do a series of meetings we call Pizza, Pop and Profits. Had the opportunity to plant some cover crop plots out here last fall, in October. So we have partnered with the Ohio Department of Ag and the Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts to provide a training, open state wide to other soil and water conservation district employees,” Slack said.

Agriculture is a big component of the soil and water district but the range of issues surrounding nature conservancy go way beyond farming.

“Anything dealing with natural resources, we probably have a hand in or can get you information on,” Slack said “We also have Dylan McNabb who is our Forestry-Wildlife person. We have Megan Taylor who does our Urban Ag program. We also have an education and tech person Carah Mladek. We’ve got an Americorps Volunteer also and then we’ve got some office staff. No matter whether you’ve got a garden in the back yard or you got a 500 acre farm, we’ve probably got something that we can help you with.”

The Muskingum Soil and Water Conservation District covers many angles of nature conservancy and routinely holds meetings that discuss ways that can improve the environment we live in. For more information you can visit them online at muskingumswcd.org.