Oahu Farmer Soil Health Management Plan Demo & Funding

Course

This lesson demonstrates two soil health management plans (SHMP) developed with farmers who participated in the Oahu cohort. In addition to a demonstration of these plans, this presentation also includes an update of NRCS PIA Soil Health Management Plans (116) by Amy Koch Assistant Director of Soil Science & Jason Hanson, State Agronomists for NRCS PIA and a presentation on Farm Bill Programming by Gavin Jennings, NRCS PIA Oahu District Conservationist.

The presentation of Soil Health Management Plans (SHMP) for Hua Orchards and Lonohana Estate Chocolate:

Review the components of a SHMP devloped by Oahu RC&D;
Demonstrate how the plan uses the UH Crow Lab results and farmer knowledge to identify soil health goals and a schedule of relevant soil health practices that will improve the biological, chemical and physical properties of the soil;
Demonstrate and collect farmer feedback on including an interactive rating chart in the SHMP to assist in making decisions on which soil health practices to prioritize and implement on a 1-5 year timeline;
Demonstrate how Hua Orchard could use the ranking chart and costing information to determine if a select soil health practice is best to implement this season;
Demonstrate how Lonohana Estate Chocolate could use the ranking chart to compare between two soil health practices and select the most appropriate practice to meet their soil health goal.
Review a comparison of the biological, chemical and physical benefits of a cover cropping-conservation cover system verses a compost- mulch system in an orchard operation.
Demonstration & farmer feedback on systems for monitoring & measuring improvements over time from soil health practices

Soil Health Management Plans (SHMP): Oahu Cohort Plan Demos, NRCS Updates & Farm Bill Programs

This presentation is intended to solicit feedback on SHMP from farmers participating in the Oahu cohort. Prior to this presentation, Oahu RC&D staff met one-on-one with Hua Orchards and Lonohana Estate Chocolate to review their draft plans. Incorporating suggestions from these one-on-one sessions, Oahu RC&D staff have developed two decision-making tools which were presented to the Oahu cohort. These tools are designed to assist farmers budget and prioritize soil health practices. Feedback on the tools has been documented and will be considered for inclusion in future plans which will be developed with farmer cohorts on Kauai, Maui and Hawaii Island.Feedback focuses on the types of information included in the SHMP that are helpful and should be considered for inclusion in future plans.

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Discussion