“Women landowners now own or co-own approximately half of Midwest and Great Plains farm and ranch land, and often want to do more to conserve their land and resources. However, many are unsure exactly how to reach their conservation goals and what resources are available to help them. Women Caring for the Land can help,” said Virginia Meyer, with the Center for Rural Affairs.

According to Meyer, Women Caring for the Land offers a peer-to-peer, informal discussion format to allow women landowners to talk about their individual land stewardship goals, facilitated by women conservation experts who can share resources available such as USDA cost-share programs, state loans, and other tools.

The meeting will begin with registration and resource sharing at 8:30 a.m.  A free lunch will be provided, and during an afternoon field tour participants will travel to a nearby location to watch a demonstration of soil testing. The tests will measure for soil structure and stability and infiltration.

Meyer suggests participants wear appropriate clothing and footwear/attire as walking a short distance will be required for the field tour.  The group will return to the Education Building for dessert and wrap-up, with the meeting ending by 3 p.m.

Maintaining healthy soil is the key to productivity and environmental health for farmland. Women landowners who attend this meeting will learn to assess and improve the health of their soils through cover crops, no-till and strip-till, and other conservation practices.

Meyer also pointed out that all interested women are welcome to these discussions, including owners, operators and inheritors of farmland, regardless of their degree of knowledge regarding conservation.

Event Location Details:

Friday, June 13, 2014

8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Library Room in the Education Building of Ponca State Park

8090 Spur 26 E, Ponca, NE.

To ensure enough food is provided, interested participants should  RSVP by June 10th to Virginia Meyer at the Center for Rural Affairs – (402) 687-2100 or virginiam@cfra.org. For more information about this program, visitwww.womencaringfortheland.org or call 641-430-2540.

This session of Women Caring for the Land is sponsored by the Center for Rural Affairs in partnership with the Women, Food and Agriculture Network, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. The series is funded by a grant from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant Program.