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Soil health is humanity's health

Katahdin sheep move into new pasture at Plow and Stars Farm, July 2021 Credit: Mark Walter
Katahdin sheep move into new pasture at Plow and Stars Farm, July 2021 Credit: Mark Walter

Farmers are experts in working the land. OK--Then why is there an initiative like the Million Acre Challenge? Farmer and program director Amanda Cather, of Plow and Stars Farm, says maintaining the health of soil isn’t enough:

“What we’re really talking about is regenerative farming. So farming that brings things back. Farming that builds soil health instead of just sustaining the health of the soil -- that actually keeps building it as much as we can.” 

Porch View Farm at sunset. Credit: Porch View Farm, LLC
Porch View Farm at sunset. Credit: Porch View Farm, LLC

Plus Maryland soil steward and farmer Keith Ohlinger, of Porch View Farm, explains why relationship-building is his secret weapon when encouraging peers to consider new techniques and experimentation in agriculture that can deliver improved soil health and bigger profits in the long run.

Links: Million Acre Challenge, Consumer info to find produce from regenerative farmers, Porch View Farm, Plow and Stars Farm.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'