The seminar took place in the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Aas, Norway on March 13th, 2006. The gathering included people from many different institutions and industries to discuss different aspects of rock powder application in agriculture. A report on this conference by Michael Heim can be found in the Forum. Many questions were explored and issues addressed that are relevant to practical application of rock dust worldwide. The Norwegian University of Life Sciences is a leading international centre of knowledge, focused on higher education and research within environmental- and biosciences. UMB focuses specifically on biology, food, environment, land use and natural resource management.
From humble beginnings in Tanzania in 1984 to the establishment of a course at the University of Guelph, to the official opening of an Agrogeology Centre in Indonesia, the field of agrogeology is gaining wider global interest and exposure. The first Rocks for Crops International Conference took place in Brasilia, Brazil on November 7-14, 2004. Visit their website, Rocks for Crops, for abstracts of papers from the conference. Remineralize the Earth is working on the development of a large research database that will include agrogeology research from all over the world. Abstracts from the International Workshop in Brazil available here. Peter van Straaten, agrogeologist and author of Rocks for Crops, will be coming out with another book soon. The Rocks for Crops book is no longer in print, but can be found online here.
Agrogeology-A new field of geology in which geologists are carrying out projects for agriculture worldwide utilizing rock dust for soil remineralization as well as other natural byproducts. Please read an excerpt from Some Thoughts from Rocks for Crops Conference by William S. Fyfe, Professor Emeritus (Geology) at the University of Western Ontario.