Soil

Join the 2026 Conservation Crop Systems Cohort and take your conservation planning skills to the next level through hands on, regional training. Work alongside peers and experts to plan, design, and certify real world projects in cover crops, tillage management, and crop rotation. Several prerequisites are required and listed here before you will be accepted to join the cohort. That same link to see the prerequisites is where you can register. All prerequisites are available online, except participation in Basic Cover Crop training from NRCS or MOSH's Cover Crop Academy.

During this session Miranda Berge (NRCS) discusses the Unified Soil Classification System (USCS), essential laboratory procedures for determining soil classification, and practical techniques for identifying soils in the field when lab equipment isn’t available.

This training is designed to provide field employees engaged in conservation planning and others with an overall understanding of soil health and sustainability principles to guide them with recommendations for land management.

Soils form the fabric of conservation planning and understanding the soil survey is foundational to evaluating resource concerns. This two day course will provide an overview of the soil survey program, methods, soil maps, Web Soil Survey, interpretive information, and other soil resources that support technical staff with the conservation planning process. Soil genesis, properties, and soil landscape relationships will all be outlined.