HOOSICK FALLS, N.Y. — U.S. military veterans will receive tuition support to attend a three-day, regenerative agriculture school Oct. 3-5 at the Ziehm family’s High Meadows of Hoosick farm, the Soil Health Academy announced today. In addition, the non-profit organization announced that veterans with New York state residency will receive additional tuition support, lodging and a $300 stipend to offset attendance-related costs, provided by the Cornell Small Farms Program’s “Farm Ops” project.
“Through our Battlefields to Fertile Fields program, we support all veterans who are interested in regenerative farming careers,” SHA President, and U.S. Air Force veteran Dawn Breitkreutz said. “Thanks to our partnership with Farm Ops, we can offer additional support to New York veterans to attend this school, which means those attendees will be responsible for only $125 of the tuition.”
“Through a series of demonstrations, hands-on exercises and presentations from our cadre of farmer-instructors, attendees will gain the practical knowledge to transform their operations into highly efficient and profitable businesses through the implementation of soil health-improving regenerative farming principles and practices,” Breitkreutz said.
Topics covered throughout this three-day school will include…
- Cover cropping for soil health, nutrient-dense feedstuffs, and profitability.
- Designing cropping and cover cropping systems that fit an operation’s context.
- Improving net profit per cow and per acre.
- How to design and implement practical and flexible grazing plans.
- How to prepare for extremes and increase farm resilience.
- Strategic input cost reduction.
- Waste and fertility management—avoiding issues and effective application.
“Attendees will also work in groups to consider various farming or ranching scenarios and make recommendations regarding the farms they’re analyzing,” Breitkreutz said. “Then they’ll discuss how those recommendations will reduce input costs and improve profitability. It’s an especially effective exercise to help producers apply what they learn in their own operations and in their own lives.”
To further ensure participant success, tuition for the on-farm school includes registration for the online course Regen Ag 101, two follow-up, one-on-one video conferences with SHA experts and access to future group conference calls with the course’s instructors. Additional scholarships are also available.
For more information or to register visit www.SoilHealthAcademy.org or contact Dawn Streigel at [email protected] or by phone at (256) 996-8742.
–Soil Health Academy
