A study of how natural gas pipeline installations affect Ohio cropland productivity begins this fall thanks to a $200,000 gift from Kinder Morgan Inc. to Ohio State…
soil fertility
Today: Projects, goals for helping soil fertility on Ohio farms
CFAES scientist Steve Culman, assistant professor of soil fertility and management in the School of Environment and Natural Resources, presents “Fertile or Futile? What Lies Ahead for Soil Fertility Research for Ohio Farmlands” at 11:30 a.m. today in the spring seminar series of the college’s Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. Details.
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.)
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.)
Organic crops have billions of helpers living in the soil: OEFFA conference preview
The first principle of organic farming? Healthy, biologically active soils mean healthy crops. In fact, microbes and other organisms living in the soil affect every aspect of crop production, from weed competition to pest resistance to a crop’s nutritional quality, says research by CFAES scientist Larry Phelan. He’ll share what he’s learned on such topics as how crop plants actually recruit soil microbes and how farm practices affect those microbes — and a crop’s health as a result. “Inside the Black Box: Understanding Soil Biology in Organic Farming,” Session IV, 1:30-2:30 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 15, at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association’s 36th annual conference.
How to get even more out of cover crops: OEFFA conference preview
If you’re already using cover crops (like this crimson clover), want to use them even more, and want to get even more of their benefits (which include improving water quality by reducing nutrient runoff), then check out what Andy Clark of USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program and Alan Sundermeier of CFAES’s statewide outreach arm, OSU Extension, have to share. “Advanced Cover Crop Concepts,” Session II, 1:45-3:45 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association’s 36th annual conference.
Susthaynable
CFAES’s outreach arm, OSU Extension, is holding a one-day course on hay production on April 16. Among the topics: Producing quality hay, and keeping or achieving the good soil fertility needed for doing it. Industry experts expect stronger markets for hay this year. Sign up by April 7.
Keeping proper P in the soil, keeping it out of Lake Erie
CFAES scientist Warren Dick talks about gypsum and its benefits to plants and the soil (video, 1:17) … and how gypsum can keep soluble phosphorus (P) in the soil, where we need it, and out of Lake Erie, where we don’t (video, 1:15).