Winter may have come early to much of the state, but come to the balmy southern part where we barely have a dusting of snow for a workshop & field day on cover crops this Thursday, November 13th! Take the opportunity to hear from a great line up of speakers & to see cover crops in action.
We have moved the majority of the program to the warm and toasty American Legion in Okabena, but attendees will have the opportunity to come out to the field to see cover crops that were seeded into standing crops this year. We will also have a couple of soil pits and other in-field activities, so bring warm layers for the outdoor session in the afternoon.
For More details on the program see below:
REMINDER - Cover Crops in a Corn/Soybean Rotation Field Day, November 13th
By Lizabeth Stahl, Extension Educator in Crops
Interested in cover crops and soil health? Take advantage of the opportunity to hear from National Soil Health Spokesperson for the USDA- Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), Ray Archuleta, at the "Cover Crops in a Corn/Soybean Rotation Field Day" on November 13th. Ray, also known as "Ray the Soils Guy", speaks about soil health and agroecology throughout the country. He will be joining the speaker line-up at this event, which is focused on integrating cover crops into a corn/soybean rotation.
The field day will begin with registration at 9:30 am at the American Legion in Okabena, located at 166 Minnesota Avenue in Okabena. The program will start at 10:00 am. Following lunch, attendees will travel to the Jerry and Nancy Ackermann farmsite, located at 39750 820th Street, Lakefield, for further presentations and in-field activities. The field day will end at 3:30 pm. There is no fee for the program, courtesy of program sponsors, and pre-registration is not required.
The speaker lineup also includes Dr. Michael Lehman, Research Microbiologist with the USDA/ARS in Brookings, SD. He will discuss the potential benefits of using a cover crop from a soil microorganism perspective, and attendees will be able to view soil biological activity through use of the Prairie Ecology Bus. Dr. M. Scott Wells, University of MN Cropping Systems Agronomist, will also discuss the latest in University of MN cover crop research.
Local farmers Jerry Ackermann, Jerry Perkins, and Dave Christoffer, will discuss their experiences with various cover crop seeding methods, timings, and mixes. Liz Stahl, Extension Educator in Crops, will present results from cover crop demonstration trials conducted in corn in southwest MN. Jill Sackett, Extension Educator in Ag Production Systems and Co-Coordinator for MN North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE), and Stephanie McLain and Loren Clarke, District Conservationists with the NRCS, will also be speaking at the event.
Please dress appropriately for the weather as participants will have the opportunity to conduct indicator tests of soil quality under different cropping systems in the field, weather permitting.
Program sponsors include: U of MN Extension, NCR-SARE, the USDA-NRCS, AgStar, Extended Ag Services, FCA Co-op, the Heron Lake Watershed District, Jackson County Corn and Soybean Growers Association, Jackson County SWCD, La Crosse Seed, Nobles County Corn and Soybean Growers Association, Nobles County SWCD, and the Okabena-Ocheda Watershed District.
For further details about the program, check out the program flyer at: http://z.umn.edu/covercropfd2014.
Please contact Liz Stahl at 507-372-3900 ext 3912 or stah0012@umn.edu if you have any questions about the program. In case of inclement weather, please check with the Farm Information Line (1-800-232-9077) for weather related updates. Continuing Education Credits for Certified Crop Advisors have been applied for.