*Global CA-CoP* *CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE* *for sustainable agriculture and land management* Dear Subscribers, Please see the message from Did Persehouse herebelow regarding her webinar on diverse cover crops. Apologies for any cross-posting. *Amir Kassam * *Moderator* *Global CA-CoP* e-mail: [log in to unmask] URL: http://www.fao.org/conservation-agriculture *Conservation Agriculture is an ecosystem approach to regenerative sustainable agriculture and land management based on the practical application of context-specific and locally adapted three interlinked principles of: (i) Continuous no or minimum mechanical soil disturbance (no-till seeding/planting and weeding, and minimum soil disturbance with all other farm operations including harvesting); (ii) permanent maintenance of soil mulch cover (crop biomass, stubble and cover crops); and (iii) diversification of cropping system (economically, environmentally and socially adapted rotations and/or sequences and/or associations involving annuals and/or perennials, including legumes and cover crops), along with other complementary good agricultural production and land management practices.* ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Didi Pershouse <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wed, 6 May 2020 at 00:22 Subject: Filling up fast: Diverse Cover Crop Webinar THIS THURSDAY. To: Amir <[log in to unmask]> Resilience from the Ground Up * <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=b45cfc0cc8&e=7906f4d8e3>Didi Pershouse* *Author • Soil Sponge Strategist • Educator* *Founder of the Land & Leadership Initiative* *Author of The Ecology of Care <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=14d8c5c568&e=7906f4d8e3> and Understanding Soil Health and Watershed Function <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=0e2e417143&e=7906f4d8e3>* *Hello friends, * This is a quick reminder about the webinar that I'm hosting with Keith Berns this Thursday, May 7, at 11:00 AM EST, *"Resiliency from the Ground Up: How Diverse Cover Cropping Can Profit Your Farm and Community."* We already have over 100 people signed up, and I'm really looking forward to this conversation. I hope to see you there! Even if the time doesn't work for you to join us, you can still sign up now and we will let you know as soon as the recording is available. *RESILIENCY FROM THE GROUND UP: * HOW DIVERSE COVER CROPPING CAN PROFIT YOUR FARM AND COMMUNITY Thursday, May 7th, 11 AM Eastern (USA) How do we address the extinction of so many bird, insect, and animal species at once? Why are researchers finding that a mixture of plants often performs better than a monoculture of the best performing plant in the mix? What makes a landscape resilient to flooding and drought? How do we deal with increasing pressures from insect pests? *Join Keith Berns and Didi Pershouse, two respected voices in the Soil Health movement, to learn why diverse cover cropping is key to resilient communities--both above and below ground. * The beneficial outcomes from diverse cover cropping defy “common sense,” and the practice runs contrary to how most of us were taught to farm (though Nature has been trying to teach us for millennia!). The secret lies in each plant species having unique liquid-carbon root exudates that provide a balanced diet of energy, proteins, and other nutrients to the soil's microbial population, allowing the soil’s functional microbiome to increase and diversify dramatically...with benefits right up the food chain. Plants that are surrounded by healthy, abundant microbial communities are more drought-tolerant and better supplied with plant nutrients, making the plants (and those who eat them) more resistant to disease. All this microbial activity also improves soil structure, which improves the function of the whole watershed/catchment by offering underground water storage. Plant diversity reduces insect pressure on plants, by attracting beneficial insects and birds, keeping the circle of life going. Come learn about all this and more, and join in the discussion. *Diversity is a powerful force for people as well.* Human communities benefit greatly from a diverse agricultural landscape, and from diversity in our food, farmers, and friendships. Here’s a chance to diversify your education by joining us for this interactive webinar! Even if you are not a farmer, or are relatively new to the concept of cover cropping, you are welcome to attend. *This webinar is offered for free, but we encourage people to donate towards the work of the Land & Leadership Initiative to make more of these offerings possible. When: Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 11:00 AM EST* Sign me up <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=27db2297d6&e=7906f4d8e3> *Keith Berns *combines over 20 years of no-till farming with 10 years of teaching Agriculture and Computers. In addition to no-tilling 2,500 acres of irrigated and dryland corn, soybeans, rye, triticale, peas, sunflowers, and buckwheat in South Central Nebraska, he also co-owns and operates Green Cover Seed <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=ad09818fc3&e=7906f4d8e3>, one of the major cover crop seed educators and providers in the United States. Through Green Cover Seed, Keith has experimented with over 100 different cover crop types, and hundreds of mixes, planted into various situations and has learned a great deal about cover crop growth, nitrogen fixation, moisture usage, and grazing utilization of cover crops. Keith was honored by the White House as a 2016 Champion of Change for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Agriculture. Keith also developed the SmartMix CalculatorTM <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=600a2effc6&e=7906f4d8e3> one of the most widely used cover-crop selection tools on the internet. Keith has a Masters Degree in Agricultural Education from the University of Nebraska and teaches on cover crops and soil health more than 30 times per year to various groups and audiences. Keith was also recently appointed by Nebraska Governor Pete Rickets to be the chairman of the Nebraska Healthy Soils Task Force <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=145dc08c6e&e=7906f4d8e3> . *Didi Pershouse *is the author of The Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money, and the Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=99157070d4&e=7906f4d8e3> and Understanding Soil Health and Watershed Function <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=7ff58fc0d6&e=7906f4d8e3>. She is a lead author for the "Future Directions" chapter of the UN-FAO Technical Manual on Soil Organic Carbon Management, and a contributing author for Health in the Anthropocene <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=1f4728870f&e=7906f4d8e3> . Didi brings conservatives and liberals together into effective working groups with common goals: improving soil health, public health, water security, and regional resilience through simple changes in land management. Both online and in-person, her participatory workshops engage farmers and ranchers, policy makers, investors, and scientists in systems thinking and deep listening, to allow for emergent strategies. She was one of five speakers at the United Nations-FAO World Soil Day <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=af7973934e&e=7906f4d8e3> in 2017. She is the founder of the Land and Leadership Initiative <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=ea4ff86a69&e=7906f4d8e3> and the Center for Sustainable Medicine, and a co-founder of Regenerate Earth and the "Can we Rehydrate California?" <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=df0a61f349&e=7906f4d8e3> Initiative. She is currently working on projects with the UN-FAO Farmer Field School program; the Climate Resilient Zero Budget Natural Farming Initiative in Andhra Pradesh, India; and the No Regrets Initiative. She is a member of the Vermont State appointed Payment For Ecosystem Services and Soil Health Working Group <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=ae1a00ef1e&e=7906f4d8e3> and is on the board of directors of the Soil Carbon Coalition <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=bd0664d2b7&e=7906f4d8e3> and the Vermont Healthy Soils Coalition <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=66124eab0e&e=7906f4d8e3> . Sign me up for the webinar <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=6144e148ad&e=7906f4d8e3> Warmly, *Didi* PS: Click below for my latest short video, entitled "The Great Work of Our Time." <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=68e3a1c398&e=7906f4d8e3> All of the Land and Leadership Initiative's past webinars are now available for FREE (though if you can afford to pay, please do.) - Case Studies of the Soil Food Web with Dr. Elaine Ingham <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=95be512354&e=7906f4d8e3> - The Soil Food Web with Dr. Elaine Ingham <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=2595f8d652&e=7906f4d8e3> - Walter Jehne & Didi Pershouse on the Soil Carbon Sponge: Structure, Function, and Formation <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=4e754fd53e&e=7906f4d8e3> - How a state in India got half a million farmers to adopt Zero Budget Natural Farming <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=bf3385573f&e=7906f4d8e3> - How New Mexico Successfully Passed its Healthy Soil Act <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=e9932834a9&e=7906f4d8e3> - Walter Jehne on Hydrological Cooling and the Soil Sponge <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=e84bd422af&e=7906f4d8e3> <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=0749032892&e=7906f4d8e3> <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=e39d8c6539&e=7906f4d8e3> *Gmail Users: To make sure my newsletters don't end up in your Promotions folder (where you might never see them!), right-click (on the newsletter) when it shows up in Gmail and select Move to Tab > Primary.* *Copyright © 2020 Didi Pershouse, Author and Educator, All rights reserved.* You are receiving this email because you subscribed at www.didipershouse.com or www.sustainablemedicine.com, you signed up at a conference or event, or because I added you after a personal conversation we had. Please send me an email if you have a question or request, or you can simply hit "unsubscribe." *Our mailing address is:* Didi Pershouse, Author and Educator PO Box 277 Thetford Center, VT 05075 Add us to your address book <https://didipershouse.us6.list-manage.com/vcard?u=6075151f49894b2c63289a22a&id=23a9af86fe> Want to change how you receive these emails? 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