Kootenay Soil Building Network - Market Garden
What Are My Neighbours Cover Cropping?
KSBN launches into a third year of soil building. We have heard from producers over the last few years that cover cropping is one of the best strategies for building soil, but integrating it into a market garden setting has its challenges including season length, space requirements, machinery and termination.
KSBN will build a network to share best practices and questions around cover cropping through a winter discussion series, working 1-1 with farmers, and developing three case studies that will be shared with the agriculture community.
Case studies 2027/2028: Settle Down Farm in Grand Forks, Salix and Sedge Farm in Salmo, and Kootenay Corner Gardens in Castlegar are participating as case study farms. They have different approaches and spaces for cover cropping and will share what they have learned and what they want to try next through case studies in 2027.
Winter Zoom Discussion Series
Session 1: Cover Cropping the Kootenays: What Are People Doing?
Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2026
Time: 10:00 am – 11:30 am Pacific Time
Location: Zoom (register here)
Join this round table discussion to share what has worked, what hasn’t, and what excites you about trying new things in the future. This discussion is a good opportunity to share the cover crop varieties and succession strategies you have used, your soil-building goals, and hear where to source seeds and other essential tools from other farmers.
Facilitated by Rachael Roussin, Kootenay and Boundary Farm Advisors and Jeff Nimmo, Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
We will be collecting feedback from participants about what cover crop resources or experts the “network” would like to hear from to develop future online and in-person events.
Session 2: Cover Crop Discussion #2 (Topic TBD)
Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2027
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Pacific Time
Location: Zoom (registration coming soon)
The Kootenay Soil Building Network is supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food’s Regional Extension Program – with financial support provided under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.
