On June 25th, the Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District’s Taylor Sinquefield and Abby Bodiford spoke to 134 4-H members about the importance of soil health in relation to water conservation at the 17th annual 4-H2O event.
4-H2O is a partnership between Mitchell County Extension/4-H and the University of Georgia’s Stripling Irrigation Research Park. The Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District helps sponsor this three-day camp that educates district-wide 4H students about water - its role in agriculture and the environment as a whole, and the importance of water conservation. The youth represented fifteen South Georgia counties at this year’s event.
Soil Health Coordinator Taylor Sinquefield discussed the qualities of healthy soil versus poor soil and how each reacts in heavy rainfall. He demonstrated this with a slake test, showing poor soil will likely wash away, causing water pollution. Irrigation and Education Coordinator Abby Bodiford took students through the soil tunnel to point out facts and explain the properties and characteristics of healthy soil.