Making Soils Webinar By - Washington Soil Health Initiative

Making Soils Data Actionable Webinar Series

More soil tests and data are available to farmers than ever. While this can be empowering, it can also be confusing. New information on soil chemistry, biology, and physics can sometimes be difficult to translate into action. In this webinar series, we highlight projects across Washington that are using soil data to inform real, on-farm management decisions.

If you’ve been hit with soil data overload, this is the series for you. Farmers, agricultural advisors, extension staff, and decision makers are welcome. Listen to learn how to take action on soil data and learn about available resources.

Chemical

Adam Peterson, Senior GIS and Science Specialist, Thurston Conservation District

Adam talks about how technical service providers can demystify soil test results and translate them into accessible and actionable recommendations for on-farm nutrient management. Using Thurston Conservation District’s soil testing program as an example, Adam shares share efficient strategies for interpreting a large volume of tests while accounting for farm scale, fertilizer preferences, and crop-specific needs.

Resources

Soil Test Interpretation Guide (EC 1478), OSU

Soil Testing: A Guide for Farms with Diverse Vegetable Crops (EM050E), WSU

Nutrient Management for Sustainable Vegetable Cropping Systems in Western Oregon (EM 9165), OSU

The Nature and Properties of Soil

Estimating Plant-Available Nitrogen Release from Cover Crops (PNW 636), OSU/PNW Extension

Find more information about the Thurston Conservation District

Read Adam's Video Transcript in English

Biological

Lindsey du Toit, Professor and Chair, Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University

Lindsey shares two decades of research and extension on minimizing spinach seed losses to soilborne fungus. Learn from the Chair of the WSU Department of Plant Pathology about the important role that growers have played in doubling the spinach seed production ability of the Pacific Northwest.

Resources

Shedding light on races Fus oxysporum f sp spinaciae

Genetic Diversity, Structure, and Selective Sweeps in Spinacia turkestanica Associated With the Domestication of Cultivated Spinach

Lessons from 10 years of stakeholder adoption of a soil bioassay for assessing the risk of spinach Fusarium wilt

A Soil Bioassay for Predicting the Risk of Spinach Fusarium wilt

Real-Time PCR Assays for Races of the Spinach Fusarium Wilt Pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. spinaciae

Limestone-Mediated Suppression of Fusarium Wilt in Spinach Seed Crops

Putative Effector Genes Distinguish Two Pathogenicity Groups of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. spinaciae

Find more information about the Department of Plant Pathology at Washington State University

Read Lindsey's Video Transcript in English

Physical

Troy Peters, Professor, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University

In this grower-focused webinar, Troy discusses the importance of soil moisture data and the advantages and disadvantages of different types of soil moisture sensors. Troy explains more about how to interpret and use soil moisture sensor data to maximize profitable irrigation water management.

Resources

Web Soil Survey

Practical Use of Soil Moisture Sensors for Irrigation Scheduling

Read Troy's Video Transcript in English

Soil Health Report Generator

Jadey Ryan, Data Scientist, Washington State Department of Agriculture

This webinar is a demo of the {soils} R package, designed for comprehensive soil health data visualization and reporting. See how we use R and Quarto to create customized, interactive reports to empower each participant in the State of the Soils Assessment to explore and understand their soil data. The {soils} package can be found here.