CRPA Field Trip: Assessing Your Farmland Soils

Join us for our upcoming field trip, Assessing your Farmland Soils. Registration is now open.

Saturday, June 3, 2023, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon
Cost: $10
Led by CRPA Member Matt Cauley

Plants are amazing things. They actually have “spirits” that can help you see into the soul of the soil beneath them. Many plants are site-specific and are finely attuned to the soil’s chemical and physical characteristics. This field experience will help you learn to recognize key indicator plants and what they tell you about your soil.

Be sure to wear good walking shoes. More details will be forthcoming upon your registration. The location of the field trip is in Bath County.

Matt Cauley Bio:

Matt has a wealth of experience in soils and farming. He and his wife, Linda, have been farmers on their family farm in Bath County since 1988. Matt graduated from Virginia Tech in 1972 with a BS in Agronomy. He was a soil scientist with the US Department of Agriculture in various locations for eight years (1972–1980), and he was a consultant in international agriculture in various countries in Africa and Asia for over a decade (1980-1991, early 2000’s).

He has been a marketer of fresh produce through farmers’ markets and grocery store chains for several years in Albemarle, Augusta, Bath, Nelson, Rockbridge, and Rockingham counties. He served as the Director of the Augusta County Farm Bureau Federation from 1999-2002. He was the President and founding member of the Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association, Inc. from 2000-2002.

He is a former board member of CRPA from 1995-1998, and he was also a board member of the Greater Augusta Regional Chamber of Commerce from 1999-2003, of which he chaired their Agriculture Committee from 2001-2003. He has been an ongoing member of the Valley Conservation Council since 1994.

If you would like to make offline payment arrangements, please email Lynne Griffith, CRPA Executive Assistant, at director@cowpastureriver.org.