Hardin County – The 2024 Conservation Tillage Club breakfast program series will begin on Thursday, January 11 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 25, February 8 and 22.
On January 11, the program will feature John Fulton, Professor, OSU Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Elizabeth Hawkins, Field Specialist, Agronomic Systems, OSU College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Fulton and Hawkins will present information how subsurface phosphorus fertilizer placement can increase production efficiency profits, improve water quality, and benefit soil health. This is one of the featured practices of the H2Ohio program and Shallow Run Project being promoted in Hardin County and northwest Ohio.
The January 25 program will feature Kendra Dauer, Risk Management Consultant with StoneX in Bowling Green who will present a program on the 2024 Grain Marketing Outlook. Dauer will discuss the world market situation for corn, soybean, and wheat including world events, demand, supply, planting intentions, and other factors that might influence the grain markets in 2024. Other local information that might affect grain markets here in Ohio will be a topic of discussion as well.
February 8 Aaron Wilson, OSU Assistant Professor and Agricultural Weather and Climate Field Specialist’s presentation will focus on being climate smart and farming with weather extremes. Topics of discussion include recent weather patterns and how they have affected crop production practices in Ohio. He will discuss ways farmers are managing shorter field working windows and things they can do to help lessen the impact of weather and take advantage of extended growing seasons. Areas of interest include what impacts might increasing temperatures and intense precipitation events have on water, manure, and pest management in Ohio.
The February 22 event will feature a program on Drone Use in Agriculture by Henry County OSU Extension Educator Alan Leininger. Drones are becoming more common in agriculture than just for scouting crops for insects, weeds, and disease. More recently, they are increasingly being used for pesticide applications in fields throughout Ohio. What types of drones are available and what are the legal and licensing requirements to use these new tools on the farm?
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 is pending.
