WaSHI Soil Health Ambassadors
The WaSHI Soil Health Ambassador program works to highlight excellent soil stewards who have adopted soil health practices. Each ambassador has worked with WaSHI staff to create a short video and article that highlights their practices. The ambassadors also serve as mentors for producers who may have questions about practices adoption.
Innovative producers sharing their experience with peers
Learn how one Washington raspberry grower is using arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to improve soil biology, plant vigor, and long-term farm resilience.
Watch the video with audio descriptions here.
Learn from Shahnnen Elizabeth-Head and Alex Head of Estelbrook Farms & Vineyard about using drone technology to reduce soil compaction and build resilience in a vineyard system.
Watch the video with audio descriptions here.
Learn from Scott Chichester about growing and mowing cover crops on a Western WA organic farm.
Watch the video with audio descriptions here.
Learn from Doug Schuster about applying compost to erosion-prone hilltops in Washington’s dryland wheat fallow region.
Watch the video with audio descriptions here.
Learn from the Vineyard Manager of Hedges Family Estate about why and how they’re rethinking soil management under the grape vines in their vineyards.
Watch the video with audio descriptions here.
Congratulations to Anthony Reyes for receiving WaSHI’s 2024 Producer of the Year Award!
Watch the video with audio descriptions here.
Maynard Mallonee uses diverse pasture plantings to build soil health and support his organic milk cows.
Watch the video with audio descriptions here.
Tyler of Brier Patch Farm finds composting a powerful tool for building soil health and a fun adventure in making his own.
Watch the video with audio descriptions here.
Quality Assurance Specialist, Casey Vetsch has been working with apples and cherries for the past four years. Casey helps manage approximately 7000 acres of orchard in the Yakima Valley.
Watch the video with audio descriptions here.
Clay and Rachel, winners of the 2023 WaSHI Producer of the Year Award, are very thoughtful and intentional in the way they farm. Focusing on managing residue in ways that work for the land in the years to come and prioritize using a diverse crop rotation to improve crop yields and better manage soil nutrients and organic matter.
Watch the video with audio descriptions here.
Intercropping is frequently done in row crops, with two or more crops planted together. The Kesler’s have adopted the practice to improve their grass hay pasture. Intercropping benefits the soil by utilizing multiple species that provide different resources and nutrient demands and input than the main crop.
Watch the video with audio descriptions here.
Bale grazing is a method of feeding livestock during the winter. Bales are placed across a pasture or paddock rather than in one location
Watch the video with audio descriptions here.