Soil Health Conference 2022

Session 9: Thorndale Demo Farm – Implementation and Evolution of BMPs in the Thames River Watershed

January 26, 2022 | SCRCA Stewardship Team

 

This presentation was a part of the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority’s 2022 Soil Health Conference held January 26, 2022.

Features: Craig Merkley (Upper Thames Region Conservation Authority)

Craig discusses the implementation and evolution of Agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) in the Thames River Watershed, with a focus on the Thorndale Demonstration Farm. The Thorndale Demonstration Farm BMPs include broad based and narrow based berms, blind inlets, stand pipe inlets, and a rock chute. Upper Thames Region Conservation Authority has installed windbreaks, grown pollinator plants and added a two-acre block planting on a highly erodible section of the farm. The main feature is a newly installed controlled drainage system featuring ten agricultural drain structures to control the amount of water held back in the system.

Recordings of all ten Soil Health Conference 2022 sessions are available online:

• Session 1: Comparing 30″ and 60″ Corn Yields with Cover Crops
• Session 2: Taking a Systems Approach to Cover Crops
• Session 3: Farmers Working Together to Build Healthier Soils
• Session 4: The Pursuit of Biological Diversity in Soils
• Session 5: Long-Term Cover Crop Trials on Corn Yields
• Session 6: Water Infiltration in Soils
• Session 7: Edge of Field Monitoring for No-Tillage Continuous Cover Crops and Reduced Tillage on Brookston Clay
• Session 8: Reducing In-Field Soil Erosion with WASCoBS
• Session 9: Thorndale Demo Farm – Implementation and Evolution of BMPs in the Thames River Watershed
• Session 10: An Introduction to the Living Lab