On December 10th, 2025 in Bloomington, Illinois, ISAP hosted the final Soil Health Leadership Program (SHLP) session and proudly celebrated the accomplishments of 19 outstanding individuals—farmers, advisors, and conservation professionals—who completed SHLP. Over the past 18 months, these individuals traveled across Illinois to participate in intensive, hands-on sessions dedicated to advancing their soil health knowledge.
Participants of the 2024-2025 cohort of SHLP end their last session in the program.
To earn their certificates, SHLP participants attended 6 two-day trainings, participated in on-farm learning experiences, and engaged with online coursework. Along the way, they formed lasting relationships and strengthened networks with farmers and conservation practitioners across Illinois. Throughout the program, participants deepened their knowledge in a wide range of topics including soil structure and function, nutrient management and soil biology, cover crop selection, seeding techniques and termination, planting and tillage equipment set-up, soil health and field demonstration trainings, and communication and outreachstrategies.
ISAP is so proud of the 2024-25 SHLP cohort and recognizes each graduate as a Soil Health Ambassador. We look forward to seeing them put their knowledge into action by hosting field-days and events and in doing so, teaching their communities about the importance of soil health.
The 2024-2025 graduating class of the Soil Health Leadership Program becomes Soil Health Ambassadors. Note: not all of our graduates are in this photo
Congratulations, graduates—your leadership is shaping a healthier, more resilient future for Illinois soils!
