The SHARE Farm is a key project within the NDSU Soil Health program. On-site, there are several research projects underway looking at soil health evaluation, tile drainage, conservation tillage practices and cover crops in rotation. Off-site, Extension programs share information using the Soil Health Café Talks, large and small field days and winter workshops and media-based outlets. Our goals are to use approaches which encourage face-to-face discussion along with communicate what we are learning using media and web-based outlets.
One media outlet used to share information is the AgWeek Soil Health Minute co-sponsored by the ND Corn Council. This television segment and written column kicked off the spring of 2017. This program is used to share science-based information directly from NDSU projects along with tips for adopting soil health building practices based on what farmers are trying in the field.
Since spring of 2017, there have been 25 television and online segments produced alongside 32 magazine article columns. The television segment reaches 30,000 viewers in the northern plains region and has 27,000 subscribers to the magazine. Views of the television segment are not just occurring live, but are continuing to be watched online. The television segments have been viewed online or embedded into other webpages over 15,000 times. All of the segments and columns are posted on the NDSU Soil Health webpage (ndsu.edu/soilhealth) and you can subscribe to an RSS feed (under the “in the news” tab) on the webpage to receive emails when new articles are added.
Outreach didn’t stop with the Soil Health Minute – another 20 short videos were also produced this past year as part of the SHARE Farm project (posted on the NDSU Soil Health webpage under the “videos” tab) and three booklets were developed related to soil health, cover crops and grazing cover crops (found on the homepage). All excellent resources filled with tips and results.
The SHARE Farm project promotes the transfer of information in multiple ways – both using face-to-face meetings and web-based and media outlets. Check out the webpage for schedules of events and digital information including booklets and videos.