NvACD Endorses Soil Health Outreach and Education Campaign in NevadaBy Jim Komar, State Soil Scientist, NRCS, NV

Following three days of discussion, demonstrations, and field work, the Nevada Association of Conservation Districts Board concluded their annual get-together October 24, 2019 with a hearty endorsement for Nevada’s Conservation Districts to join forces with USDA-NRCS, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension (UNCE), UNR Desert Farming Initiative (DFI), and Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to promote soil health management, outreach, and education across the state.

The week’s events began with a Producer Workshop for the Quinn River Conservation District area where Soil Health Management was the main topic. Orovada, Nevada – population 155 or so – was the site of the workshop hosted by the NvACD and Quinn River CD. Fifty-seven people attended the day’s activities featuring morning presentations on the Five Soil Health Principles, a hearty lunch, followed by an afternoon field tour of local Producer Rick McClintick and his McClintick Farms operation where soil health applications were discussed in more depth.

A Soil Health Workshop kicks off in Orovada, Nevada. Fifty-seven attendees enjoyed a day of presentations, demonstration, and field application, the first in a series planned for Nevada over the next

year or so.

Producer Rick McClintick welcomes over 50 participants to his farm just outside Orovada, Nevada.

Soil Health Division Specialist Marlon Winger talks with a young man attending the Soil Health Workshop in Orovada, Nevada.

Then, the two-day annual meeting in the downtown Winnemucca Convention Center convened the following day. The meeting included broad-ranging soil health and related agricultural topics that resulted in considerable progress towards achieving a common understanding of the potential soil management practices that improve soil health and function have for Nevada’s producers. Special guests brought to Winnemucca to share their perspective and experiences with these issues included Keynote Speaker Dr. Bill Payne, Dean of the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources, Dr. Jeff Mitchell of University of California’s Conservation Agriculture Sustainability Initiative (CASI) Workgroup, Marlon Winger of NRCS’ Soil Health Division, NRCS-Nevada State Soil Scientist Jim Komar, and others.

Keynote Speaker Dr. Bill Payne of the University of Nevada, Reno provides some needed context to the demands and challenges Agriculture faces in the 21st century in Nevada and around the world.

Dr. Jeff Mitchell of University of California’s Conservation Agriculture Sustainability Initiative (CASI) Workgroup connects the technical benefits of soil health-improving practices with the need to build a

network of people charged with the responsibility to help producers transition to these practices.

An all-star panel of Nevada and national experts fielded questions from audience members during a discussion of how soil health would benefit Nevada producers at the Nevada Association of Conservation

Districts’ annual meeting in Winnemucca, Nevada on October 23, 2019.

Nevada NRCS State Soil Scientist Jim Komar discusses the beginnings of partnership-building in Nevada intended to promote soil-improvement conservation practices in Nevada.

Nevada NRCS State Soil Scientist Jim Komar addresses the annual Nevada Association of Conservation Districts’ leadership in Winnemucca, Nevada on October 23, 2019.

Upwards of about 80 NvACD representatives and partnership guests concluded the three-day annual meeting by approving a proclamation in support of education and outreach for soil health and management in the state for the coming year. NvACD First Vice President Gary McCuin of Eureka will lead the collaborative effort for NvACD, working with NRCS and the rest of the partnership to promote and deliver more workshops like the one in Orovada in 2020.

Mr. Gary McCuin, NvACD First Vice President, speaks to producers interested in Soil Health at the Orovada, Nevada workshop.