Brendon Bumpkin
Member
Workshop with Joel Williams 21st November in London; 7th December in Banbury
Optimising Soil Management for Productivity (6 BASIS points; 2E, 1GM, 3N)
More details and booking (and 1 1/2 hour video) @ http://www.regenag.co.uk/index.php/course-calendar
Shorter video @ http://wn.com/ipcuk_2015_joel_willi...y_and_the_soil_food_web_international_permacu
Proposed Timetable
Optimising Soil Management for Productivity (6 BASIS points; 2E, 1GM, 3N)
More details and booking (and 1 1/2 hour video) @ http://www.regenag.co.uk/index.php/course-calendar
Shorter video @ http://wn.com/ipcuk_2015_joel_willi...y_and_the_soil_food_web_international_permacu
Proposed Timetable
- Introduction: The Living Soil
- Introduction of the main microbe groups.
- Understanding the role of soil life for soil nutrient supply and crop production.
- Functions, roles and interactions of microbes in agro-ecosystems.
- Nutrient cycling, availability and extraction by plants.
- Influences of plant morphology.
- Soil Carbon: The centrepiece of soil health
- Plants, photosynthesis, root exudates and microbes.
- Carbon sequestration, nutrient access, disease suppression, soil structure, glomalin
- How to build AMF via management of environment, agronomics, rotations, inoculations, green manures, how to avoid practices that suppress them.
- Fungi:Bacteria Balance.
- Soil disturbance/no-till farming – discusses soil carbon sequestration, soil structure, how to offset negative effects of tillage to support soil life.
- Organic manures and Composts: stabilising nutrients in the landscape while optimising crop supply
- Manures vs composts.
- Quality vs Quantity.
- Manure applications, nutrient content and supplementing soils with additional nutrients.
- Composting summary – general introduction (temp, O2 etc).
- Practical account of ‘how to’ to make compost for soil application.
- Practical manure management and compost making on a time budget.
- Manure and compost amendments – building carbon and addressing soil deficiencies.
- Making the most of soil: Understanding soil nutrients and amendments
- Leveraging existing soil fertility and optimising any purchased inputs.
- Nutrient behaviour in soils, nutrient synergies/antagonisms.
- Understanding total, exchangeable, soluble nutrient pools.
- Slow release, fast release.
- Biostimulants, biofertilisers, chemical inputs – how these inputs influence soil biology and crop quality.
- The role of carbon and carbon-input complexes.
- Where to next?
- Rethinking minerals and microbes – balancing nutrient supply and soil agro-ecological health in order to optimise photosynthesis, crop quality, pest and disease pressure.
- Integrated disease management and novel approaches to managing plant immune responses – biostimulants, bioinoculants, compost extracts.
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