Don Gasper is expecting a packed house for the Soil Health Seminar Sept. 6 at the Boone County Fairgrounds Events Center in Albion. The seminar will feature Ray Archuleta, a farmer, no-till expert and regional soil health specialist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

"I'm hoping to get 500 people at the event," says Gasper, who farms near Lindsay and is organizing the event, adding, "With Ray Archuleta, nobody is going to fall sleep."

A no-till expert, known as the "soils guy," Archuleta will discuss the ecological soil health benefits of a systems approach to no-till, residue management and cover crops.

"The premise is teaching people how to emulate nature, how to emulate natural processes. The more growers imitate the natural system, its architecture of diversity, mimicking the way nature does business in their farming systems, the more growers will be able to use fewer inputs like fertilizer, pesticides, less pumping of water," says Archuleta. "The more we emulate the natural system and mimic its architecture, the more we can tolerate extreme climatic conditions."

Benefits of biomimicry
This system of biomimicry doesn't just mean reduced soil erosion, Archuleta notes; it also includes benefits like improved water infiltration, decreased evaporation potential, nutrient cycling, increased organic matter, weed suppression and establishment of a mycorrhizal bridge between living root systems

In addition to ecological benefits surrounding soil health, Archuleta will also discuss some of the cultural and social road blocks to practices like no-till, cover crops and conservation structures.

"It's a function of you — how committed are you?" he says. "I think that we have struggles because we're always looking for outside external forces to solve our problems. Most of humanity’s problems are caused by looking outward for solutions, rather than inward."

Archuleta, who is retiring from his role within NRCS this summer, will continue his work with soil health in a private consulting firm and hosting soil health academies with fellow soil health experts, Gabe Brown, Allen Williams and Dave Brandt.

The program will also feature a trade show with 20 vendors. At the start of the day, each vendor will have two minutes to describe his or her company and product.

Nebraska NRCS will give a 30-minute update on highly erodible land conservation and wetland conservation compliance requirements.

In addition, a panel of six farmers will discuss their experience with no-till and cover crops over lunch. This includes successfully establishing cover crops, grazing cover crops, leaving adequate amounts of residue, using cover cropping systems and understanding the long-term benefits of no-till.

"They are all local Boone County farmers. They're no-tillers and cover-croppers. They're very excited about it, and they believe it's the way to go," says Sherry Asche, conservationist at the NRCS office in Albion. "We like to talk about no-till and cover crops, because growers are improving their soil, but they're also improving the bottom line, improving yields and saving time."

"We firmly believe in soil health, so hopefully, this is a great educational opportunity” in Albion to attend, adds Asche.

36 years of no-till
Gasper has seen the benefits for himself in his 36 years of no-tilling and six years of cover-cropping. "After we had a recent rain, I went out with a spade and I found seven to eight earthworms in just one spade-full," Gasper says. "Now I find them in the old cornstalk roots. They're in there eating old roots. There's so much right below the soil. You retain water when it comes from rain with all those worm channels. And they go down pretty deep. That's how water can penetrate through your soil. I also notice when I pull some of my soil apart, it breaks real easy."

Registration will kick off at 8:30 a.m., and the event will run until roughly 4 p.m. Registration will be web-based and will open on July 15. Interested attendees can learn more by calling Asche at 402-395-2621, ext. 117, or by email at [email protected].