Event Date
Come learn about the production and orchard application of soil amendments from dairy manure and almond woody biomass for improving soil health. Topics will include composting, pelletization, soil properties, crop yields, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Speakers include UC Davis' Ruihong Zhang, Sat Darshan S. Khalsa and Abdolhossein Edalati, Geetika Joshi from the CA Dept. of Food & Ag., Guangwei Huang from the Almond Board of CA, Denise Mullinax from the CA Dairy Res. Foundation and Aaron Wickstrom from Wickstrom Dairy.
RSVP for more up to date information: https://tinyurl.com/HSPFieldDay
Background
TheHealthy Soil Project is a 3 year study that started in July 2019 and will conclude in March 2022. It is funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the Almond Board of California, and the California Dairy Research Foundation. The Principal Investigator is Professor Ruihong Zhang from the Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at UC Davis. She leads an interdisciplinary research team including scientists and graduate students from her lab andthe Departments of Plant Sciences, Animal Science, and Population Health and Reproduction at UC Davis.
The goal of this study is to investigate the recycling of dairy manure and almond stick-twig waste on almond orchards as nutrient rich, safe, organic amendments, which sequester carbon and provide economical and sustainable benefits to the soil, crop, and environment.
The objectives of the project are to: (1) Produce and characterize the physical and chemical properties of dairy manure and almond woody biomass compost products with and without pelletizing; (2) Investigate and demonstrate the effectiveness of the compost products in sequestering carbon and improving soil health in a commercial almond orchard and determine the impact of compost application on the greenhouse gas emissions; and (3) Conduct outreach activities and disseminate project results to stakeholders and the public, which is the purpose of this field day.
We welcome you to join us for a 2 hour virtual field day where you will hear from the project sponsors on their motivation for funding this project and Dr. Zhang and her team on their work and what they have learned during the past 2 years