Brian Dougherty of Understanding Ag doing a soil assessment demonstration.
Photo credits: Charlotte Smith Photography
On August 28th, 2026, the Washtenaw County Conservation District Field Day focused on soil health and networking between over 120 farmers, conservation related organization staff, and community members. Funding for this event was in part from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Thank you to the hosts, the Maulbetsch family, for generously opening their farm for the event.
Presentations
Key Speakers: Attendees learned about the microbial landscape in soil and how to best utilize soil testing methods for reducing nutrient inputs while maintaining healthy crops and high yields.
Brian Dougherty (Understanding Ag) spoke on Interpreting Haney Soil Tests.
Larry Fiene (Planet Earth Agronomy) spoke on Interpreting BeCrop Soil Tests.
Rosemary Linares and Damian Rivera speaking about Damian's Craft Meats.
Lunch featured ingredients from local farms and was catered by Maggie Long of The Kitchen at the Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales in Dexter and Damian Rivera of Damian's Craft Meats.
Damian and his partner Rosemary Linares, gave an update on their progress towards opening a USDA meat processing facility in Manchester, Michigan. They are aiming create a regional hub to support small and mid-size livestock farmers, create living-wage jobs, and make high-quality, humanely raised meat more accessible.
Madelyn Celovsky and Korede Olugbenle of MSU Extension with the rainfall simulator.
In-field Demonstrations & Simulation Stations: Attendees transitioned from classroom to field to partake in live demonstrations of the concepts covered in the presentations, with simulations demonstrating the relationship between soil health and water runoff, soil testing, and cover crop drone seeding
- Rainfall Simulator
- Cornell Soil Assessment
- Cover crop seeding with drone
Networking
Networking at lunch based on similar regenerative farming interests.
During the event, participants were seated at tables according to their regenerative farming interests, including:
- Cover Cropping
- Livestock and Grazing
- Conversion to Organic
- Soil Testing
- Innovative Equipment
- Crop Diversity
Susan LaCroix from Legacy Land Conservancy networking about land preservation options.
At the end of the day, MiFarm Link and Michigan Transition to Organic Partnership Program hosted a Match and Mingle with experts in farm succession, land access, financing, organic farming, legal services, and more.
Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make the event a success. Looking forward to 2027!
Want to learn more about our farmer programs? Contact WCCD staff:
Paul Buzzard
He/Him
Conservation Technician
Nicholas Machinski
Conservation Specialist
Kristen Sutter
Natural Resource Technician