Growing Green 2023: Cover Crop Opportunities

Date & Time: Saturday, February 25, 2023, 10:00am
Location: McGregor Hall (Room 113), 1 Morgan Place, Yellow Springs, OH 45387

Description: The benefits of cover crops include reducing soil erosion, keeping soil microbes well-fed, improving nutrient availability, and adding soil organic matter and carbon for higher crop yields. We will learn how to get started with cover crops and hear about a new financial assistance opportunity to implement conservation practices in the Miami Valley. This session will be the first educational event through the “Growing Green” series in 2023. Coffee and light refreshments will be available.

“Growing Green” is co-sponsored by Tecumseh Land Trust and the Agraria Center for Regenerative Practice, as part of the Jacoby Partnership, a Regional Conservation Partnership Program through U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS).

Program Schedule

10:00 am – 11:00 am: Jim Hoorman, Soil Health Scientist & Educator with Hoorman Soil Health Services

Title: Getting started with cover crops.

Description: There are three main types of cover crops.  Legumes and clovers make nitrogen and can be great pollinators if left to flower.  Grasses increase carbon and soil organic matter while the fine roots improve soil structure.  Brassica like radish, rape, and kale decrease soil compaction and fight weeds.  Topics on seeding rates, how to plant, and how to terminate  cover crops will be discussed. Cover crops benefits include reducing soil erosion, keeping soil microbes well fed which improves nutrient availability, and adding SOM and carbon for higher crop yields.

11:00 am – 11:15 am: Break

11:15 am –  12:15 pm: Joe Campbell and Leo Deiss of One.Two.Five Benefit Corporation 

Description: Joe and Leo will present a new USDA-NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program opportunity called Financing Climate Smart Agriculture in Ohio’s Miami Valley for farmers in Miami, Montgomery, Champaign, Clark, Greene, and Clinton counties. This program is led in partnership with the Agraria Center for Regenerative Agriculture, the Tecumseh Land Trust, Retreat at Evans Farms, and Oaks & Sprouts, Limited.  This project’s lead partner, one.two.five, seeks to evaluate the potential for soil carbon storage and greenhouse gas emission mitigation in Ohio soils through regenerative farming and land management practices. This benefit corporation works with the growing global voluntary and pre-compliance carbon offset markets to assign premium values to farmers achieving the highest levels of carbon storage in Ohio.

This project seeks to engage an urban and rural network of BIPOC farmers and non-BIPOC farmers through innovative financial and technical support strategies to spur the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices and systems designed to enhance soil quality and soil carbon storage. This project advances the most pressing issues for climate-smart agriculture, including soil carbon capture and retention through a pay-for-performance compensation approach for farmers who adopt climate-smart agriculture practices and systems. The project area encompasses a diverse landscape of urban and rural and small and large farms. It is home to over 1 million inhabitants, 5,000 farms, and 8,000 producers spread across six counties: Miami, Montgomery, Champaign, Clark, Greene, and Clinton counties.

SPEAKER BIOS

Jim Hoorman has a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture, a Master of Business degree, and a Masters’s in Agricultural Economics, and was a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Sciences from Ohio State University.  Jim also worked as an Assistant Professor and Extension Educator for Ohio State University Extension for 25 years specializing in soil health, cover crops, nutrient recycling, and water quality.  Jim recently worked three years with the USDA-NRCS as a Regional Soil Health Specialist for Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.  Jim now has his own business called Hoorman Soil Health Services, where he teaches soil health, consults, does grant writing, conducts soil health research, and sells cover crops and early maturing crop varieties.  Jim has worked with cover crops and no-till for over 20 years, promoting soil health principles throughout the USA and the world.

Leo Deiss is a trained agronomist and scientist interested in understanding how soils function in various ecological conditions to support management solutions and promote sustainable development goals. He explores how designing and managing agricultural systems affect soil processes and how these can be translated into vital agroecological functions and provision of services, such as soil health, nutrient cycling, resource use efficiency, and soil organic carbon accrual and persistence.

Joe Campbell is a rural sociologist and natural resource management professional with 15 years of research and teaching experience in the fields of community development, agriculture, and environmental restoration. He supports, designs, and implements community-based solutions to complex sustainable development challenges in Ohio and beyond.

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE HOSTS

Tecumseh Land Trust (TLT) is a nonprofit conservation organization serving Greene and Clark counties of Ohio and surrounding areas. The purpose of the Tecumseh Land Trust is to preserve agricultural land, natural areas, water resources, and historical sites, in cooperation with landowners and to educate the public about permanent land preservation and conservation. We assist landowners in navigating state and federal easement programs and accept donated easements on farmland and natural areas. In total, the land trust has preserved over 35,000 acres.

Agraria Center for Regenerative Practice is a nonprofit that focuses on Bioregional Regeneration.  At its 138-acre farm in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and through its media and conferences, Agraria demonstrates and teaches practices that restore the ecosystem and human health, cultivate community resilience, and grow just and equitable food systems.  Founded in 1940, the organization has long centered on the role of community in the evolution of human society. Today, it’s interested in new ways of thinking and living in relationship to each other and the natural world.