By Maggie Willis
The Lal Carbon Center joined Ohio State Extension’s Agronomic Crops team at the Farm Science Review for the second year in a row, hosted by CFAES in London, Ohio. Over September 17th, 18th, and 19th, our researchers, visiting fellows, research technicians, and graduate students interacted with more than 500 attendees who visited our booth.
This year, our table featured an improved the soil cores display by transforming it into a soil health guessing game designed by Senior Researcher Klaus Lorenz. We also added two new displays: a soil turbidity demonstration set up by Researcher João Carlos de Moraes Sá and a soil painting activity created by Visiting Fellow Toru Nakajima and Research Technician Alex Jones.
These activities provided insights into the impact of different agricultural management practices on soil health. The guessing game used soil samples from the Center’s long-term experimental plots, which had been treated with different management practice. Visitors examined the colors and textures of samples and attempted to match them with cards listing different management conditions, such as “bare soil” or “no-till corn fertilized with manure.” The striking contrast between rich, brown, hummus-filled forest soils and sandy, light brown bare soil was notable. This game particularly emphasized the impact that covering the soil with crops or other plant life, using natural versus synthetic fertilizers, and disturbing the soil as little as possible have on soil health. These interactions sparked great conversations about soil health, and all participants received stickers as an award.
The soil turbidity demonstration allowed visitors to observe changes in jars of water when soils of varying health were added. They saw how sandy particles from neglected soil remained suspended for hours, muddying the water. Dr. Sá and fellow researchers explained that these suspended particles could easily wash away, increasing erosion or forming a crust that prevents water from penetrating the soil. In contrast,
the soft brown aggregates in the forest soils maintained their structure in the water. This structure allows water to penetrate deeply into the soil and nourish plant and animal life. When shaken, bubbles of air rose from the forest soil, illustrating how the soil captures air in the root zone for plants—all thanks to organic matter acting like glue to hold the soil together. Researchers further explained that the organic matter in the soil can filter and purify water as it passes through.
The third activity, soil painting, was especially popular with children. We displayed artwork by Dr. Nakajima and Alex Jones featuring various soil shades to create textured acrylic-style effects with Elmer’s glue or watercolor effects with water and soil particles. Alex Jones dried, ground, and sieved dozens of soil samples, providing a fun palette of colors. Visitors learned that different paint colors primarily result from mineral content—iron makes the paint redder, calcium gives it a greyer hue, and more carbon makes it darker.
C-FARM Co-PI, Assistant Professor, and Ecosystems Services Field Specialist Asmita Murumkar joined us
to give a Women in Ag Series Talk entitled “Soil Health, Carbon Credit and Markets” in the Ag Crops tent and to meet with visitors at our table. She continued to educate others who visited the Firebaugh Building at the Carbon Central and Ecosystem Services table there.
Everyone had a wonderful time! Special thanks to the entire team at the Lal Carbon Center, Dr. Murumkar and Prasanna Oruganti from Ohio State Extension, and Teresa Funk and the Ag Crops team for hosting our table once more. For more news from C-FARM and the Lal Carbon Center, explore our Autumn Newsletter. 
