It all starts in the soil. Healthy soils are the foundation of sustainable, regenerative, organic farming and gardening. NOFA-NY’s soil health programming provides technical assistance to organic producers, educates farmers and gardeners on building healthy soils, and advocates for policies that support land stewardship, carbon sequestration, and healthy waterways.
Education
Join us for a microscopic view into the regenerative organic soil trails of Youngs Farm on Long Island, featuring Jonathan “JJ” Skaro, Head Farmer of Youngs Farm, and Monique Bosch, Soil Health Technician of CT NOFA.
Join Monique Bosch of CT NOFA to ‘zoom in’ on soil and compost under the microscope, checking out the microbes that make up our Soil Food Web. Get acquainted with the life in the soil, and how to determine your soil’s health by observing it under a microscope. We will also cover simple visual clues to determine soil health, and discuss methods to increase the life in your soil using regenerative ag methods.
We also recommend that you check out Understanding Living Soil with Monique Bosch from NOFA/Mass and Soil Microscopy: Zooming in on Healthy Soil from CT NOFA.
And, if you missed NOFA-NY’s Soil Health Webinar Series, you can still watch the recordings!
Resources
- Check out our Soil Health Resource page for additional soil health videos and fact sheets.
- New York Soil Health’s resource page is also a great source of information, links, and videos to help you advance soil health.
Click here for our management recommendations for vegetable farms and gardens. These recommendations were developed in partnerships with NOFA/Mass and can be used to complement results from the NOFA Carbon Proxy Tests.
Advocacy
NOFA-NY is a member of the National Healthy Soils Policy Network, a group of farmer-centered organizations that advocate for state and federal policies on behalf of sustainable, organic, beginning, minority and/or family farmers. Learn more about NOFA-NY’s policy positions here. To stay connected with NOFA-NY’s advocacy work, sign up for Action Alerts here.