Wilmington College in southwest Ohio plans a two-part Cover Crops Symposium on Thursday, March 21. The college’s Agriculture Department, CFAES’ OSU Extension outreach arm, and the Clinton County Soil and Water Conservation District are the sponsors.
cover crops
Wednesday: Get a good grip on manure using cover crops
Growing cover crops like this clover can benefit both grain crops and water quality, says CFAES’s Alan Sundermeier. He’ll give tips on getting cover crops off the ground — and then eventually back into it — on Wednesday at the North American Manure Expo in Ohio. (Photo: iStock.)
5 ways to learn all you can about cover crops
Past posts have noted the benefits, both agricultural and environmental, of cover crops. Learn how to grow them — and how they can help both with field crops and livestock — in five CFAES workshops for farmers this winter. (Photo: Forage radishes, iStock.)
Guide to growing cover crops
Cover crops — clover, buckwheat, alfalfa and forage radish, to name a few — can help limit farm fields’ phosphorus runoff. Now an updated book co-written by CFAES experts gives farmers more details on growing them. Buy it here. Why it matters: Phosphorus in water can feed harmful algal blooms.
Cover crops: Guide on how to grow them
Even more about cover crops: CFAES experts helped write the latest Midwest Cover Crops Guide, and you can read about it, including how you can get a copy, here.
Cover crops: Cleaner water, healthier soil
More about cover crops: “Farmers who add cover crops to their fields not only can help improve Ohio’s water quality, they can also cut input costs and improve their soil’s health,” said a 2014 CFAES press release.
Cover crops: Sustainable Farm Tour Series
Discover cover crops (see what we did there?) next in the Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series. The Turnwald Farm in northwest Ohio will host a Cover Crops Farm Tour from 6-8 p.m. this Thursday, Sept. 3. The tour will feature more than 10 different cover crops and cover crop mixtures after wheat that you can broadcast, drill, or apply with or without manure — at least 40 possible combinations in all. Cover crops’ benefits include richer soil and increased yields and income. Learn more here on p. 27. (More on cover crops. And, even more.)
3 research-based ways to cut runoff, boost water quality
South Dakota State University scientists working on a project led by CFAES’s Rattan Lal, Distinguished University Professor in the School of Environmental and Natural Resources, say no-till farming, cover crops and rotational grazing can help farmers reduce surface runoff to improve soil and water quality.
Data for their study, some 40 years’ worth, came from USDA and CFAES’s North Appalachian Experimental Watershed in Coshocton, Ohio.
Red clover, red clover, send clean water over
There’s a lot to be said for cover crops, and a new guide says it. Co-written by CFAES experts, Midwest Cover Crops Field Guide shows the hows and whys of growing red clover (pictured with a guest), alfalfa and many others, including some new possibilities. Look inside here. Buy it here. Cover crops’ pros include protecting and improving both soil and water.
Why you may want to grow crops like this one
A March 17 workshop hosted by the All Ohio Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society will look at how farmers can reduce the off-site movement of soluble nutrients such as phosphorus. One way involves growing cover crops, such as the vetch shown here, which benefit the soil. Four of the speakers will be from CFAES. (Photo by James H. Miller, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org.)