Soil Matters

The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service helped promote the International Year of Soils by hosting Soil Matters: 2015 New Hampshire Soils Conference. The first time such a conference has been held since 1999. The close to 90 participants is a testament to the desire and the need for professionals to be educated and to network with like-minded experts. It was  disappointing to hear about the effects of state and federal budget cuts in natural resource protection programs, and the soil science programs in particular. It is clear that the interest and the need could not be greater. The Great Dust Bowl was a wake-up call in the 1930s and the flooding and catastrophic events of recent years should have that same impact today.  I hope to see an increase in funding directed toward the life giving resource called Soil.