March 18, 2025
Doors open at 8:00am-4:30pm EST
Oakwood Event Center, 849 E. Lake View Rd, Syracuse, IN 46567, USA
Registration is capped at 350. When we reach this enrollment, registration will close.
Free: This event is funded by the Kosciusko County SWCD in collaboration with our partners, Clean Water Indiana (CWI), Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative(CCSI), The Watershed Foundation (TWF), Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation (WACF), Hoosier Ag Today (HAT), Louis Dreyfus Company-Regen Ag Program, Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, ADM, Purdue Extension, Purdue On the Farm, American Farmland Trust & our USDA-Natural Recourse Conservation Service (NRCS) along with Farm Service Agency (FSA) .
About the Event-Registration Required
Led by our new district Soil Health Specialist, Soil-Con is designed as a working meeting to provide a roadmap for collaborative exploration into the connections within soil health, the soil food web, and ecological risk of pest management strategies and developing long-term solutions for regenerative food systems. This all-day event will have three specialized speakers from across the U.S.
Speakers include:
Neal Kinsey, owner and operator of Kinsey Agricultural Services, Inc. Neal will talk about fertility management and how it should be one of the principles used to improve soil health. Neal uses Albrecht’s theory, declining soil fertility, due to a lack of organic material, major elements, and trace minerals – or a marked imbalance in these nutrients – is responsible for poor crops and in turn for pathological conditions in animals fed deficient feeds from soils. Neal will have local soil sample results and will share how he would suggest correcting these soils for optimal production.
John Tooker, professor and extension specialist in the Department of Entomology at The Pennsylvania State University. His research group studies relationships among plants, invertebrate herbivores, and natural enemies to understand factors that regulate populations of herbivorous insects and slugs. The long-term goal of his research is to exploit ecological interactions for sustainable insect pest management.
RJ Rant is the owner of Terraform Ag and Nutrilink Biosystems. Rant will discuss how to grow your soil, avoid disease, and feed your plants, through the analysis of nitrogen use in relation to carbon in the soil.
Tentative Agenda (All times Eastern):
8:00 AM - Registration and Refreshments
8:30 AM - Welcome & District Program Update
8:45 AM –Neal Kinsey-“The Great Influence of Soil Fertility on Enabling Excellent Soil Health“
10:15 AM - 15 Min. Break
10:30 AM – RJ Rant-“Improve Nitrogen Use Through C:N Ratios”
12:00 PM -1 Hr. Lunch (Provided by Partners)
1:00 PM – Neal Kinsey-”Review of Local Soil Sample Analysis”
2:30 PM - 15 Min. Break
2:45 PM – John Tooker-“The Relationships of Pests and Predators “
4:15 PM - Wrap-Up
Suggested hotels if needed: