Cover Crop & Soil Health Forum

Caribbean Area NRCS invites our partners & clients to participate with us in the National Cover Crop & Soil Health Forum to be held February 18, 2014, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at 2 different locations: the UPR Fortuna Agricultural Experiment Station Conference Room in Juana Diaz, PR, and the St. Croix USDA Service Center Conference Room in Christiansted, USVI.  Check-in for the forum will begin at 9:45 a.m. and the meeting will begin promptly at 10:00 a.m.

The meeting will open with a local presentation about cover crops & soil health in the Caribbean Area, followed by a live video internet-stream from the National Cover Crop and Soil Health Conference in Omaha, Nebraska - see Forum Flyer in English (PDF, 969 KB) & Spanish (PDF, 284 KB).

The Forum in Puerto Rico will feature:

• Dr. Brian Brunner, UPR Lajas AES: He has been evaluating different cover crops in Puerto Rico.
• Duamed Colon, a Farmer from Guarabo, PR. He has been planting cover crops in plantains, and produces seeds of Canavalia.
• Jose V. Fabre, a Farmer from Sabana Grande, PR. He has several species of covers growing with his bananas and citrus crops.
• Dr. Carlos Ortiz, UPR-AES, Dean-Director. He will discuss research oportunities with cover crops.

The live-stream will feature NRCS Chief, Jason Weller, and Howard G. Buffett, followed by panel presentations from leading cover crop farmers from across the nation.  Approximately 200 hundred concurrent “forum” locations throughout the country - including those in the Caribbean Area - will provide NRCS and our conservation partners and stakeholders with a unique opportunity to experience the conference and discuss ways we can more fully organize and energize our efforts to enable the soil health movement—at the grassroots level.

The national conference is sponsored by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), and USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and will bring together key leaders, researchers, innovators and policy makers in American agriculture to examine the benefits, opportunities and challenges associated with improving the health and function of our soils through the adoption of soil health management systems.

Please contact Sr. Jaime Valentín, State Resource Conservationist, at 787-766-5206 x.121 or 787-360-9538 for details or to RSVP for the Puerto Rico session; or Ms. Julie Wright, Program Analyst, at 340-692-9632 x107 to RSVP for the St. Croix session (by February 12th, please). 

We look forward to seeing you on the 18th!