What role can social entrepreneurship have in building soil health and achieving positive ecological goals?

Mary and Eric explore this question with Dr. Christine Mahoney of the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and Wayflowering Flower Farm. Dr. Mahoney shares her own experiences with social enterprises, systems thinking, and regenerative organic flower farming in this episode. 

Dr. Mahoney reflects on the catalytic effect organizations and businesses can have on innovation and change, such as enriching the soil, enhancing biodiversity, sequestering carbon, strengthening local ecosystems, and supporting pollinator habitats.

To learn more about cut-your-own flower opportunities and immersive experiences at Wayflowering Flower Farm, please visit https://www.wayflowering.com/.
If you want to become a member of the Central Virginia Flower Collective, send an email inquiry to [email protected]. 

If you are interested in impact investing, specifically related to displaced people and refugees, please visit the Refugee Investment Network that Dr. Mahoney helped found at https://refugeeinvestments.org/

As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers, graziers, and gardeners for peer-to-peer learning and to follow the four core soil health principles: 

1) Keep the soil covered -- Cover crops are our friends and allies; avoid bare fallows;
2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Practice no-till or gentle tillage as much as possible in your field or garden;
3) Maximize living roots year-round -- to improve biodiversity, soil structure, and life in the soil; and
4) Energize with diversity -- through crop rotation, high-quality food for soil and plants, farm enterprises, and livestock integration. 

If you have questions about soil and water conservation practices, natural resource concerns, and soil health principles and practices to restore the life in your soil, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office.  

4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Other partners include the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and partners of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest.

To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.