Who Should Attend?
The course will detail practical & profitable implementation of regenerative and holistic approaches to orcharding. It will cover all perennial crops, including grapes, fruit trees, nut crops, and silvo-pasture. The course will address the commercial orchardist and include broad applications for smaller diverse farms and homestead orcharding. Extensive hands-on instruction in soil health, plant health, and animal stewardship will all be covered. The host farm produces almonds and walnuts and use animal integration. Special attention will be directed towards the unique challenges and opportunities of the nut industry.
What You Will Learn
- Practical & Profitable application of basic soil health principles
- How to maximize capture of the Four Ecosystem Processes
- Routine observations of healthy soil
- Managing cover crops & species diversity
- Enhancing disease & pest resistance and resiliency
- Functional plant nutrition management concepts
- Orchard grazing & small livestock management
- Enterprise Stacking for Optimizing revenue
April 30 - May 2, 2024
Tuition of $750.00 includes:
Thanks to a generous donation from Simple Mills, tuition is offered at a reduced rate.
• Regen Ag 101 course ($499.00 value), which we would like you to complete prior to the first day of class
• In-person attendance at the SHA school, as well as course materials, snacks, water and lunch each day
• Access to future scheduled conference calls with the instructors.
NOTICE: The registration capacity for this Soil Health Academy is full. We are no longer accepting registrations.
Agenda
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
8:00 Welcome
8:15 Introductions
8:45 Universal Principles & the Six Principles of Soil Health
10:00 Break
10:15 Threes Rules of Adaptive Stewardship &the 4 Ecosystem Processes
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Burroughs Regenerative Practices
1:45 Group Field Exercises: Evaluating soil health, making key observations, cover crops and grazing in the orchard
5:00 Adjourn
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
8:00 Q & A/Group Discussion
8:30 Optimizing the Farm Soil Water Cycle
9:30 Biological Plant Nutrition and Nutrient Management
10:15 Break
10:30 Creating Disease and Pest Resilient Soils and Crops
11:15 Practical Fencing and Water infrastructure
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Group Field Exercises: Tips/Hacks for Fencing, Water, Adaptive Grazing, tree row management and alternative harvest methods
5:00 Adjourn
Thursday, May 2, 2024
8:00 Group Field Exercises: Key observations, decision making, livestock movement patterns & integration, recognizing potential issues.
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Simple Mills Regen Ag Presentation
2:00 Stacking Enterprises with livestock, marketing and economics (Include poultry and small livestock)
3:00 Managing cover crops and the orchard floor
4:00 Wrap-Up Session - Final Questions and Conclusions
5:00 Adjourn
About Burroughs Family Farms
Burroughs Family Orchards is located in Merced County under the majestic gaze of Half Dome and the Central Sierra Nevada Mountains. Ward & Rosie Burroughs farm with their daughter Benina Montes and husband Heriberto carrying on a legacy of farming that has been a part of their heritage for more than a century.
Burroughs Family Orchards combines the Mediterranean climate of California’s San Joaquin Valley with good soils and water to grow the world’s finest quality almonds on their rolling hills. Transitioning from conventional to organic to regenerative organic, they are utilizing their resources carefully and wisely to farm in a way that regenerates the land by following the 6 principles of regenerative farming. They utilize multi species cover crops, typically ranging from 10-16 species.No/Low Till practices are the goal on the farm to keep the soil covered and intact. Sheep are integrated into the mature orchards with plans of scalable poultry in the young orchard tree rows. No synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fungicides are used in their organic farming. They add compost in the fall and compost tea during the growing season. Mulches on the young orchards are being evaluated. Their farm is one of the first almond orchards to utilize catch frame style harvesting at scale. Miles of hedgerows have been planted to provide habitat for beneficial insects and birds.
Burroughs Family Farms is the marketing flagship for all products produced by the family’s Organic & Grass-Based enterprises, which include almonds, beef, lamb, meat birds, eggs, and olive oil.
Simple Mills is on a mission to advance the holistic health of the planet and its people, transforming center store grocery aisles with better-for-you crackers, cookies, snack bars, and baking mixes made with nutrient-dense ingredients and nothing artificial, ever. We've always loved almonds for being a delicious, nutritious powerhouse packed with vitamins and minerals - and now we're on a journey to reimagine the impact that almonds can have on the health of our planet by exploring how regenerative farming can build healthy soil, reduce water use, and empower local farming communities. Learn more at simplemills.com.
Hotel Information
Hotel
Comfort Suites
Turlock, CA 95380
191 North Tully Road
(209) 667-7777
Group Code: Soil Health Academy
All reservations must be booked by 4/9/2024 in order to receive the group rate of $144+Tax, per suite per night. Any reservations booked after this date will be booked at our best available rate. All reservations will have a 48 hour cancellation policy on them.
Location
Burroughs Family Farm
22323 E Monte Vista Ave.
Denair, CA 95316
Closest Airport
Airport
Sacramento International Airport
6900 Airport Blvd,
North Natomas, CA 95837
