The Ohio No-till Council is sponsoring 3 field day events, on August 18, 20 and 23. Three opportunities to learn the latest information about soil health, cover crops and a whole lot more.

Are you interested in the potential of growing organic crops with no-till? And saving input costs? Rick Clark, who farms 7000 acres near Williamsport, Indiana, will be our keynote speaker on August 18 (Thursday) at Sunny Slopes Farm in Crawford County. Rick is a nationally prominent speaker and has slowly transitioned the Clark family farm to organic standards. Cattle are a key component of the regenerative farm. Rick spoke at this same field day in 2019. The location is: 4565 Zeigler Rd, Bucyrus, OH 44820. The program will start at 9:00 a.m. and end about 4:00 pm.

Cody Beacom, Bird Agronomics, will plant a dozen cover crop strips so participants can see both top growth and root growth for different mixes. He and David Brandt will join Rick for a panel discussion, answering questions. Other speakers and program details will be announced.

Our second event, August 20 (Saturday), will be at a new location for us. The Butler SWCD has been hosting a field day for a few years to showcase cover crops in a field next to their office. The location is 1802 Princeton Road, Hamilton, Ohio 45011. We are working with Brady Smith on the half-day program. It will start at 9:00 a.m. and end about noon.

There will be 8 cover crop plots. One will be an interseeding demo of a legume cover crop planted in June between corn rows. This location also has a 4-acre pollinator plot. George Derringer, NRCS Soil Scientist (retired) will discuss 3-foot-deep soil cores taken from the site. A soil pit is tentatively planned.

Our third no-till event will be on August 23 (Tuesday) in Muskingum County. We are working with Van Slack, Muskingum SWCD, on the program. It will also be half-day, 9:00 a.m. to noon. The location is the Randall Horst farm, 1145 Morgan Rd, Zanesville, OH 43701.

Ryan Hayden, OSU-ATI, will discuss interseeding cover crops into corn. A half dozen cover crop mixes will be drilled after wheat harvest. Also, double-crop soybeans after barley. In May, Van Slack, SWCD, analyzed the nutrient value of different cover crops. Mr. Horst planted corn across those plots this spring. There will also be a comparison of soybeans in 15” and 30” rows.

Registration information for the 3 events will be announced later.