Many people are one, two, or three generations removed from actual farming and food production. Therefore, people may have misperceptions about farming and local agriculture. Mike Parrish, a senior extension agent for agriculture and natural resources withVirginia Cooperative Extension in Dinwiddie County, worked with farmers and his colleagues to develop an online resource site called Desktop Farm Dayto help reacquaint people to farming. The site has relevant information about farming, agriculture, and the environment in an engaging and personal way to reconnect us all to farming and the land. The topics range from Agriculture History to Emergency Preparedness to Careers as a Cooperative Extension Agent.
Mike and colleagues also have a section on Water Quality & Soil Conservationthat includes videos and soil health games to improve knowledge, understanding, and literacy about soil, plants, water, worms, pollution, and what we all can do. In a video titled Building Soils with Plants, Mike outlines the many benefits of winter and summer cover crops and how cover crops can be used to recycle nutrients and jump start soil biology.
Virginia Cooperative Extension’s Desktop Farm Day can be accessed
To take a short quiz on Building Soil with Plants, please visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSct-f0gg_WUEdF40fxpee1IVCYXmj6toJY972Dfh5kxBlwk5g/viewform