Local Students Learn About Soil Health
In early April, AMP hosted its first high school citizen science day at the Grace Drake Agricultural Laboratory in Wooster. Students were able to get their hands in the soil despite heavy spring rainfalls.
“Ideally we would like to get area students out in our fields collecting a variety of baseline data that we could draw upon years from now,” said AMP Director Dr. Douglas Jackson-Smith. “It’s an exciting way to engage students in actual research and provide a window into the kind of work we are doing here in their backyard.”
The Wooster Ohio State Soil Fertility Lab managed most of the day’s learning activities, which focused on what soil health is, how it is measured, and what it means for farm management. Dr. Manbir Rakkar and her team helped students test soils for pH, perform steps of a laboratory test for active carbon, and observe and discuss differences between soils of varying organic matter and texture.
Dr. Ryan Haden from Wooster’s Agricultural Technical Institute discussed grid sampling technology for soil health monitoring. He helped students map field boundaries on their phones in an outdoor setting.
Between hands-on activities, students heard brief presentations about Ohio State research projects that focused on soil health, including the plans in progress at Grace Drake to create different areas of agricultural management to compare long-term and systems impacts of these management choices.
Participating students felt the event helped them understand soil health better and many said it also helped them consider agricultural careers or emerging areas of agriculture, new technology or techniques, and agricultural systems thinking.
Future events are being discussed that would focus on soil sampling, water quality, and other possible topics. Grazing and pasture management was an area student participants expressed an interest in. If you are interested in participating in a citizen science field day event with us, please contact Kevin Armstrong.
The Grace Drake Agricultural Laboratory has historically offered hands-on experiences for Ohio State Wooster campus undergraduates. Over the past two years AMP has been leading efforts to expand the farm's functionality to include farm-scale, long-term, and whole systems research, as well as community demonstration and education projects. This program has received grant funding from Ohio State Energy Partners (OSEP); collaboration with many Ohio State research, teaching, and farm operations personnel; and assistance from the College of Wooster Local Social Entrepreneurship Class. Read more about AMP's work at the Grace Drake Agricultural Laboratory here.