Raven Herron

 Hello from Western Maryland!

Even with a short week to celebrate our Independence Day, I have got to do much up in Washington County! A big highlight was attending a community meeting group of farmers who, every month, choose one of the tier farms to go to and tour. They will ask each other questions, share progress, tips, solutions, ideas, and more! The wealth of knowledge, experience, and kindness that I found myself in was astounding. Both people who have been farming for generations, and children at about the age of 12 were in attendance and it was wonderful to see the future of agriculture. 

Cultivating the future of agriculture is mandatory due to the increasing world demands. On the weekly call with the other interns, we talked a lot about soil health and planning for the inevitable future. Recently, up at WMREC, we have been in a drought which is severely impacting the ability of the plants to grow. These plants are crucial for the annual and perennial study being conducted, so we have been praying for rain. The soil, however, is a very well-balanced system if you treat it with care. It has been truly amazing to see the differences in crop growth and yield where plants such as alfalfa and cowpeas, how past cover crops were managed, where water troughs and shade structures have been placed in the past, and various other previous implications are affecting the current crops struggling to grow. 

Taking care of the soil by utilizing the rotation of symbiotic crops will take care of you and the rest of the world who enjoy eating food for dinner. If you intentionally plant crops that will care for the projected crops you plan to plant a year from now, your soil will be healthier, be able to provide the correct nutrients, and nurture your seedlings - even in periods of heat and drought.

 I have talked about rotational grazing in one of my blog posts before, but I want to stress the understanding that rotational grazing also greatly improves soil quality and health! Keeping adequate forage height when grazing helps

with moisture content, nutrient density, some nutrient fixation, and root growth (aeration!). 
Make sure to keep rotationally grazing!  :)

This is me standing in front of one of the fields at WMREC. These crops are doing great even in the dry, hot, weather!

This is a picture of some of the animals in the research study who utilize rotational grazing by moving grazing areas about every 2 days! They were waiting their turn in the shade to be weighed for data collection on their ADG.