Frank Gibbs, a soil guru from Ohio, is speaking across Ontario this February.
He will be headlining the Heartland Soil and Crop’s Regional Soil Workshop for farmers across Wellington, Waterloo, Huron and Perth counties, and the event will take place on Feb. 16 in Listowel.
His message is timely. With growing concerns of agriculture fertilizer losses and water quality, Gibbs has practical, on-farm solutions for improving soil health and the environment.
Gibbs is a fifth generation farmer near Rawson, Ohio. After majoring in Agronomy and Soils from Ohio State University, Gibbs had a long career with the US Department of Agriculture and the National Training Centre. Over his career, he has developed extensive knowledge of soils and water, soil compaction, cover crops and manure and has conducted countless trainings for farmers and crop advisors as well as for environmentalists and soil scientists.
His most memorable field day demonstration is the “smoking tile” in which he blows smoke through a tile and out of the soil to demonstrate macropore pathways. These macropores are important for drainage and for creating deep root pathways, but they also can act as a direct line for manure and fertilizers to reach the tile, which may cause some problems for water quality at the other end.
His soil health message is coming at a very crucial time for agriculture, as the Great Lakes phosphorus issue is now impacting farmers on both sides of the border. Gibbs says that this problem won’t be solved by government or legislation. “It will be solved by progressive farmers working with crop advisors, soil scientists and fertilizer dealers using a whole toolbox of conservation practices for healthy soils, while producing food for the whole world.” He continues by saying that, “all of us in agriculture need to keep letting the public know we are doing our part to proactively solve this problem.”
Frank Gibbs will be appearing at Huron Soil and Crop’s AGM on the evening of Feb. 15 in Varna and headlining Heartland Region Soil and Crop’s Soil Workshop on Feb. 16 in Listowel before heading to Eastern Ontario.
Farmers and agriculture industry reps interested in registering can visit www.oscia.wildapricot.org/events or contact Melisa at mel@heartlandsoilcrop.org or 519-820-2358.
