“If you’re going out on your farm and see something you’ve never seen before, you’re doing things right.”
It turns out that a discussion about insects and soil health isn’t just a discussion about how insects affect soil health. It’s also about how the disappearance of beneficial insects is affecting the health of plants, wildlife, livestock, crops, rural communities, and ourselves.
Jonathan Lundgren, founder and director of Ecdysis Foundation, trains future scientists and farmers at Blue Dasher Farm in South Dakota. In this episode, he exchanges observations about systems approaches with Pat Bittner, a fifth-generation farmer in southern Indiana who grows corn and soybeans.
You can be involved with Ecdysis’ research efforts by participating in the 1,000 Farms Initiative, where researchers from the Ecdysis Foundation work with farmers across the nation to analyze farm system level responses. Check out ecdysis.bio to become a participant or donate to support the research.
Listen to the HAT Soil Health Podcast presented by the Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative below!
