This webinar series took place in Fall, 2022. Urban farming can bring lots of benefits, but soils in cities can be degraded and, in some cases, contaminated. This can make vegetable crops more susceptible to pests and put farmers and consumers at risk. During this webinar series, participants will learn how to determine if their soils are contaminated and what they can do to minimize risks while producing healthy and nutritious organic vegetable crops. They will also learn how to restore degraded soils in cities and quantify whether their efforts are paying off. All webinars are free, take place at 11AM Pacific, 12 Mountain, 1 Central, 2 Eastern Time, and advance registration is required. Please register for as many webinars as you like at the links below!
October 19, 2022: Testing Soils for Heavy Metals and Developing Effective Remediation Strategies.
Dr. Anna Paltseva, Endowed Assistant Professor in Environmental Science School of Geosciences, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Chair-Elect of the Urban & Anthropogenic Soils, Soil Science Society of America.
See recording below, and here are some resources mentioned in the webinar:
October 26, 2022: Exploring Behaviors and Interventions to Reduce Soil Contaminant Exposure Among Community Gardeners and Farmers.
Dr. Candis M. Hunter, PhD, MSPH, REH, Environmental Health Specialist.
November 2: Design And Management Strategies for Regenerating Healthy Soils Through Urban Agriculture.
Dr. John Taylor, Associate Professor of Agroecology at the University of Rhode Island.
Reference list from John Taylor's webinar
November 9: Combining Soil Amendments and Varietal Development to Prevent Pathogens and Heavy Metal Uptake.
Dr. Lori Hoagland, Professor of Soil Microbial Ecology in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Purdue University.
November 16: Understanding Laboratory Soil Health Tests: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going?
Dr. Roland Wilhelm, Assistant Professor of Soil Microbiology in the Department of Agronomy at Purdue University.
Sponsors
- Tomato Organic Management and Improvement Project (TOMI) funded by NIFA-OREI
- Carrot Improvement for Organic Agriculture Project (CIOA) funded by NIFA-OREI
- Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts Urban Soil Health Program
- Purdue University Extension
- eOrganic
