Soil Health Sessions @ Empire State Producers Expo

Join us on January 12, 2021, to hear farmer experiences and research on cover cropping and no-till practices from around the region during the Soil Health Sessions at the virtual 2021 Empire State Producers Expo.

Our own Ryan Maher, the coordinator of our Reduced Tillage project, organized these sessions on soil health, cover crops and reduced tillage.

In the first of two sessions, you will learn the latest research on selecting and managing summer cover crops in your rotation from Rebecca Brown (University of Rhode Island). Then Skip Paul (Wishing Stone Farm, RI) will talk about the advantages of cover crop interseeding and share his successes and failures with establishing cover crops in brassica cash crops on his farm.

For the second session, Chad Cochrane (USDA NRCS-NH) and Nathan Johanning (University of Illinois Extension and farmer) will team up to get into the details of managing no-till (NT) vegetables and the decision points for different crops. You will learn about NT vegetable transplanters, tips for modifying equipment, and NT management practices for sweet corn and pumpkins. Bring your questions for discussion and walk away with ideas on how you can keep more of your soil covered, reduce your inputs, and improve productivity with less tillage on your farm.

These sessions will take place on Tuesday, January 12, 2021, from 8:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Explore the full 2021 Empire State Producers Expo schedule and register online at: http://nysvga.org/expo/information/