Soil Health, Climate and Water Resources for Remote Professional Development During COVID-19 Pandemic

We at the North Central Region Water Network and our teams understand that many of you have had changes in your schedule and work responsibilities due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. As such, we wanted to share some soil health and water-related professional development and independent learning opportunities for you to explore during this time when you are working remotely.

• The Soil Health Nexus digital soil health toolbox is an excellent digital repository of soil health resources that can help you improve your soil health knowledge. It can also help equip you to teach soil health to producers and other stakeholders once you are back in the field. The toolbox includes a range of different resource types including:
  • how-to videos on using various soil health demonstrations and assessments
  • in-depth information on soil physical and biological properties, with a section on chemical properties coming soon
  • a wealth of materials on the relationship between manure, soil health, and water quality
  • a catalog of blog posts on the latest soil health research and resources
  • resources and considerations for conducting on-farm soil health research
  • and more!
• The Soil Health Nexus team will be hosting a Digital Cafe series featuring informal virtual discussions with Extension soil health experts and researchers from across the region. This series will take place weekly, with the first Soil Health Digital Cafe occurring today at 2pm CT featuring Eileen Kladivko of Purdue University. More information and the link to register is on the Soil Health Nexus website.
• The North Central Region Water Network houses a catalog of virtual water-related events. Check out a comprehensive list of water- and agriculture- related events to enhance your professional development while working remotely.

In addition, we encourage you to explore the North Central Region Water Network and the Network-funded North Central Climate Collaborative’s webinar archives.  Both groups host routine webinars focused on water and climate related topics and, together, have a catalog of over 75 webinar recordings, which provide an excellent learning opportunity.

We hope this information is helpful during these challenging times. From all of us at the North Central Region Water Network, and our teams, we wish you and your families health and safety.