World-renowned soil health expert Dr. Jill Clapperton is the featured speaker at Agnition’s first Soil Summit Monday, August 8 at the Ralco Technology Campus, 330 3rd St., Balaton, Minn. The event begins at 1:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Dr. Clapperton and her team at Rhizoterra in Reardan, Wash., are developing new technology to help farmers make real-time decisions about soil fertility, plant nutrition and soil microbial activity. Principal scientist, co-founder and owner of Rhizoterra Inc., Dr. Clapperton is a well-known international lecturer and advocate for practices that promote soil health.
At the Soil Summit, Agnition microbiologist Rachel Raths also will summarize the company’s collaboration with Dr. Clapperton to impact soil health.
“We’re very excited to sponsor this Soil Summit,” said Agnition General Manager Cal Ludeman. “Agnition is a technology company completely focused on improving soil health. Our research and development prove that soil health results in vastly better plant health which provides the opportunity for higher yields. Producers have more to sell and it costs less money to produce,” Ludeman said.”
The event is focused toward farmers, educators and others that understand the responsibility of land management.
“Stewardship of the soil is extremely important for every farmer,” Ludeman said. “That’s where our technology can come in to help.”
The interaction of the plant with its soil microbes has a lot to do with how nutrients are applied and how they’re more efficiently used and not wasted through runoff, leaching or volatilization, Ludeman said.
Farmers attending the Soil Summit can expect to see soil and plants during the presentations, Ludeman said, adding that Agnition researchers are digging plants and looking at roots on a daily basis this time of year. Soil Summit attendees will have an opportunity to tour the Agnition Greenhouse.
Dr. Clapperton, an expert on all technologies used to measure soil health, has done consulting with Agnition on ways to more accurately evaluate soil health, Ludeman said. She was the Rhizosphere Ecologist for 16 years at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge Research Centre in Lethbridge, Alberta, before she moved to her husband’s family ranch in western Montana.
The Agnition Soil Summit runs from 1:30-4:30 p.m. Monday, August 8. Attendees can pre-register by calling 1 (800) 533-5306 or visiting http://conta.cc/1twB1Yw.
About Agnition
Agnition is a brand of Ralco, a third-generation, family-owned multinational company with distribution in more than 40 countries. Ralco is a leading global supplier of livestock nutrition, animal health products and crop enhancement technologies that support large segments of the livestock, poultry, aquaculture and crop production industries. Learn more at https://www.ralcoagriculture.com/.