What's New with the Soil Health Program?

Upcoming Events 

79th Soil & Water Conservation Society International Annual Conference

July 21-24, 2024 | Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 

The Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) is hosting the 79th SWCS International Annual Conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This year’s conference theme, “Rising Together: Collaborative Conservation for All,” challenges all conservationists to rise to the great challenges and opportunities ahead of us, together.

The agenda will feature the latest ideas, technologies, and practices, and foster a dialogue around their adoption. Cutting-edge research and practice developments in soil health, water quality, and resource management will be shared through various workshops, sessions, symposia, tours, exhibits, and demonstrations. Learn more about the conference. 

2024 Drought Resiliency Program Tours with the Colorado Ag Water Alliance
July 23rd | Boulder County

Tour 1: Grama Grass & Livestock's Bale Grazing Project, 1:30-2:30pm

This project uses ruminant animals to help restore land that is populated by prairie dogs, invasive weeds, and brome grass. Study methods include bale grazing animals on sections of land to disturb the heavy thatch created by brome grass, adding nutrients to the soil through manure and urine, and preparing the land for native grass planting. With successful establishment of native grasses, this project creates a more drought resilient system that will require less water over time and a landscape containing prairie dog resistant plants.

Tour 2: Isabelle Farm's Rotational Grazing and Improving Soil Health, 3:00-4:00pm

This project seeks to improve soil moisture-holding capacity by increasing soil organic matter through intensive grazing. The study is designed to demonstrate if a real-world, field-scale trial including rotational grazing can improve soil organic matter and water-holding capacity in comparison to harvesting the grass in the form of hay. The project will provide a better understanding if converting farmland to perennial grass fields and managing them with rotational grazing will significantly improve drought preparedness.

Advancing Food-is-Medicine 

September 11-12, 2024 | Longmont, CO

Join Think Regeneration for two days of learning at the Yellow Barn Farm in Longmont. This is a unique opportunity to join farmers, ranchers, and healthcare professionals and the event is free for farmers and ranchers. If you are interested in understanding the connections between soil health, human health, and planetary health, we hope you will join us. You will learn how to open up food-is-medicine programs and markets in your community, which are proving to build resilient sources of nutrition from local food farmers and ranchers, and supported by health care resources. 

Email cda_soil@state.co.us to have your event featured here!

Grants & Other Soil Health Engagement Opportunities

2024 Colorado Organic Grains Microgrant Program
Application Window Open: June 24th - September 27th

The Colorado Grain Chain (CGC), a nonprofit organization that seeks to grow and connect a vibrant community-centered grain economy in the state of Colorado, is excited to announce a new round of Microgrant funding available to stakeholders in the Colorado organic grain chain.

This year the grants will focus on the middle part of the supply chain, which is the part of the process that falls after harvest but before retail. Qualified applicants might be involved in aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storage, transportation, or distribution. Anyone who malts, mills, stores, cleans, or otherwise processes organic grains in Colorado is eligible as well as food hubs and distributors.

Zero Foodprint 

Winner of the James Beard "Humanitarian of the Year" Award, Zero Foodprint (ZFP) is a nonprofit mobilizing the food world around agricultural climate solutions. Learn about their work and apply for the Restore Grant here.

Watch: Restore Colorado Producer Webinar
Watch: Restore Program Webinar June 2023