Description
This workshop stepped participants through the process of planning and implementing soil health practices and holistic conservation in small-scale agriculture. We know soil health matters—this workshop focuses on the practical steps needed to plan and implement it.
In the afternoon field session, participants toured the Marion County SWCD Demonstration Garden to see these practices applied bed-by-bed. Demonstrations included crop maintenance, cover crop and mulch management, tarping, composting, and wildlife habitat plantings.
The morning indoor session walked through crop planning, soil management, and conservation practices used in intensive vegetable production. Using the Marion County SWCD Demonstration Garden as an example, participants will develop a vegetable crop plan and learn how to use Indiana tools and resources to build a complete soil health strategy. Topics include crop rotation, reduced tillage, cover crops, mulching, and nutrient management.
Full agenda of topics located here:
Presentation & Booklet
- Small Farm & Garden Conservation Planning Powerpoint (pdf)
- Small Farm & Garden Conservation Planning Booklet
Additional Resources
- Marion County SWCD website – Soil Health
- IN Small Farms Conservation website
- FOTG > Section 1 > Technical Notes > Small Farm Technical Notes
- FOTG > Section 4 > Conservation Practice Standards and Supporting Documents
- The subfolder ”Conservation Practice Standards & Support Documents” contains useful documents related to each practice. The “Ecological Sciences Tools” subfolder contains excel planning spreadsheets for practices such as mulching, cover crops, and wildlife plug plantings.
- Cover Crop Implementation Requirement packet
- Useful for NRCS / SWCD to create complete packet for producers in EQIP. Can be used for technical assistance as well.
- Indiana Nutrient Management Tool tutorial
- Indiana Mulching Tool video
- Indiana Cover Crop Tool video
- Top 10 Small Farm Conservation Practices
- NRCS Resources for Small Scale Farms
Thank you to our partners and sponsors
This work is supported by Indiana Small Farms Conservation, Marion County SWCD, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, North Central SARE, and Clean Water Indiana. This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number 2024-38640-42989 through the North Central Region SARE program under project number ENC24-233. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
