Agricultural Peat Soils

This one day training on agricultural peat soils is designed for conservation professionals seeking to deepen their understanding of the unique properties and management challenges associated with these soils. The course will provide a comprehensive overview of peat soil formation, hydrology, nutrient dynamics, and carbon storage potential. Participants will explore how agricultural use impacts peat soils and considerations around management and conservation.

This session will contain an introduction to drained peat and muck soils in MN. It will start with an overview of these cropping systems along with some background and considerations. This will be followed by a session on soil formation and classification along with soil mapping, and conservation considerations. The morning session will finish with a field exercise on soil description.

The afternoon session will be a deep dive into agronomic considerations on these soils around crop rotation, equipment considerations, soil sampling, precision ag, nutrient management, soil chemistry, and innovative cropping systems. This will be tied together with discussion from producers and consultants from the region with experience in these soils.