The 2020 Conservation Tillage Club breakfast program series will begin on Tuesday, January 7 at the Plaza Inn Restaurant in Mt. Victory. Each session will start at 7:30 am with a complimentary buffet breakfast followed by the program at 8:00 am. Other sessions will be held on January 21, February 4 and 18.
On January 7, the program will feature Ben Brown, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Agricultural Risk Management, Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Developmental Economics at The Ohio State University speaking on the Grain Marketing Outlook. Grain producers have not only had to deal with weather extremes in the past year, but also have had the market affected by policy decisions by a trade war with China and the African Swine Fever overseas. As markets develop worldwide with improved infrastructure in South America, demand also is being affected through pending trade deals with Mexico and Canada. Renewable fuel standards, prevented planting crop insurance, and Market Facilitation Plan payments have also played a role in marketing plans as farmers look for ways to improve their position with a successful 2020 crop year and implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill programs.
The January 21 program will feature Anne Dorrance, Professor, Plant Pathology at Center for Applied Plant Sciences at The Ohio State University and State Specialist, Soybean Diseases, OSU Extension. Dorrance was recently named Associate Dean and Director for the Wooster Campus and Associate Director for the Ohio Experiment Station in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Her presentation will be discussing diseases important to soybean production, including Phytophthora root and stem rot, Frogeye leaf spot, and Sclerotinia stem rot. Her recent work has also included Soybean Cyst Nematode and how management of this pest can affect soybean yields. She will address the process of choosing the best seed variety based on disease resistance packages and rating scales so that producers’ fields that can hold up to the all the challenges facing soybeans in Ohio.
February 4 Hans Kok will address the breakfast attendees on soil health. Sponsored by the American Farmland Trust, Kok is the Coordinator of the Indiana Cropping Systems Initiative, Indiana Conservation Partnership. The Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative is a farmer-focused and farmer-driven process. The program works with local level partnerships and others to promote the adoption of practices and cropping systems that can lead to improved soil health. Much of the work has been with cover crops with benefits of reducing soil compaction, covering the soil to protect it from erosion by wind and water, improving soil structure, increasing soil organic matter, fixing nitrogen from scavenging the nutrient from the soil that would otherwise be lost to percolation, runoff or volatilization, as well as producing forage or pasture from cover crops.
The February 18 program will feature Mark Seger, Ohio Department of Agriculture Engineer for Northwest Ohio discussing the implementation of H2Ohio. Through collaboration among the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Ohio Department of Agriculture, and Ohio Lake Erie Commission, H2Ohio will address critical water quality needs and support innovative solutions to some of the state’s most pressing water challenges. This new initiative was recently rolled out by Ohio Governor DeWine to impact phosphorus reduction by using cost share incentives to help producers get practices on the land to improve water quality statewide. Practices that Seger will address include variable-rate fertilization, subsurface nutrient application, manure incorporation, conservation crop rotation, cover crops, and drainage water management. Information will be presented to put plans into practice locally, utilizing cost share funds administered through this program.
The Conservation Tillage Club breakfast program series is jointly sponsored by OSU Extension and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Hardin, Logan, and Union Counties, and in cooperation with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Breakfast is courtesy of the generous support from agricultural lenders and agricultural businesses. All events are open to the public and no advance registration is required. Continuing education credits for Certified Crop Advisers have been approved.