When more than 1,000 industry leaders, scientists, and sustainability professionals gathered in Minneapolis for the tenth annual Sustainable Agriculture Summit, they heard from the Soil Health Institute in both main stage and breakout sessions.
On the first day of the sold-out event organized by Field to Market and The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, the breakout session “Open Access Tools to Measure Soil Health, the Foundation of Regenerative Agriculture” also reached capacity as attendees packed the room.
SHI Soil Microbiome Scientist and Program Director Dr. Liz Rieke (pictured above) showed a rainfall simulation and a live demonstration of the free Slakes app to measure aggregate stability, an essential indicator of soil health. Iowa farmer Levi Lyle described his experiences with regenerative practices, and Walmart Director of Natural Capital Gregory Bohrer relayed why Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are investing in regenerative agriculture, including work with SHI. Taryn Davis, Senior Director for Strategic Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement for Cargill, described Cargill’s partnership with SHI and gave a glimpse at the next frontier, a drought resilience calculator SHI is developing to help growers understand how soil health management can influence water availability on their farms.
The following day, SHI President and CEO Dr. Wayne Honeycutt led the mainstage session “Healthy Soils. Healthy Planet.”
After introducing recent advances in soil health, Dr. Honeycutt moderated a panel discussion with (from left) RegenScore President and Lead Scientist Dr. Jessica Chiartas; Levi Lyle; and USDA-ARS Soil Scientist Dr. Kalyn Taylor, covering the benefits of soil health management systems in conventional and organic agriculture.
“Soil health is the very foundation of regenerative agriculture,” Dr. Honeycutt told the crowd.
The event, held Nov. 20-21, convened farmers, suppliers, researchers, brands, organizations, and governmental representatives invested in building and sustaining resilient food systems.