Strip tilling cover crops; photo: Ryan Maher
The Soil Health Seminars programming at the 2018 Empire Farm Days at Rodman Lott and Son Farms in Seneca Falls, NY, will provide the opportunity to hear from soil specialists, learn from farming peers in daily panel presentations, see tabletop demonstrations, tour new cover crop plots, and have a soil report created for your use. The presentations are free and organized by the New York State Interagency Soil Health Working Group.
Visitors to the Soil Health Center will see tabletop and rainfall simulation demonstrations and the New York Soil Health Trailer. USDA, Cornell University, and soil and water conservation personnel will be on hand for question and answers.
The featured speaker at the Soil Health Center at 9:30 am on Tuesday, August 7, 2018, at the show is Sally A. Flis, Ph.D., director of agronomy at The Fertilizer Institute in Washington, DC. She will share an update on 4R research and discuss how to adjust fertilizer management for soil health-building practices such as no-till, reduced till, cover crops, legumes in rotation, and manure management, and how growing conditions in the Northeast effect 4R management.
Before joining The Fertilizer Institute, Dr. Flis consulted on nutrient management with farms in NY and Vermont and provided technical support and marketing for feed and soil analysis services.
On Wednesday, August 8, at 9:30 am, Harold M. van Es, a 30-year professor of soil science at Cornell University will discuss why healthy soil is the foundation of sustainable crop production and how understanding interactions among the physical, biological and chemical aspects of soil is key to good soil health management practices, including how to enhance soil organic matter. The audience will learn how reducing tillage and adding cover crops and organic amendments result in increasing the quality and quantity of organic matter to benefit soils and crops.
Dr. van Es is the lead inventor of a computational tool for precision nitrogen management: Adapt-N, winner of the Tulane Nitrogen Reduction Grand Challenge, and a comprehensive soil health management framework. He has published more than 150 scientific papers and co-authored the widely-read book Building Soils for Better Crops.
The Thursday, August 9 speaker at 9:30 am will be Cornell University Cooperative Extension Field Crops Specialist Michael E. Hunter addressing “Weed Management for Cover Cropping and Conservation Tillage Systems.” Mike will cover the challenge of managing residual herbicides in soil health cropping systems that include cover crops, interseeding, diverse rotations, and no-till or strip tillage in the Northeast. Cover crop termination and herbicide resistance management strategies will also be discussed.
As an Extension specialist serving Northern New York for 20 years, Mike has provided research-based field crop production recommendations and resources to farmers, crop consultants, and agribusinesses, with a focus on enhancing crop production efficiency through increased and protected yields, improved quality, decreased input costs, and new technologies. A Certified Crop Advisor with CCA Resistance Management Specialty certification, he worked as a crop specialist, custom applicator, and fertilizer blend plant manager before joining Extension.
10:30 AM Cover Crops Field Demo Tour
Dairy, crop and vegetable farmers looking to enhance their use of cover crop mixes will see side-by-side trials of new options in the cover crop field plots sponsored by King’s AgriSeeds, Seedway, and Empire Farm Days at the 2018 event. Visitors can see the trials at anytime; seed representatives will lead a daily 10:30 am tour of the plots. The plantings include single species and mixes, including examples of stress-tolerant summer annuals for no-till and conventional till systems; combinations for dealing with soil compaction and adding organic matter; pollinator- and butterfly-friendly mixes, mono crops and blends for use after small grain or vegetable crops; and natural biofumigant options for decreasing unwanted nematode populations.
Daily Farmer Panels
A farmer panel discussion will take place at the Soil Health Center at the 2018 Empire Farm Days at 11:30 am followed by a 12:30 pm Soil Health Center luncheon sponsored for participants by King’s AgriSeeds.
The 2018 Soil Health Center daily panel topics, panelists and moderators are as follows:
Tuesday, August 7:
Soil Health Management Practices and Fertilizer & Manure Management When Incorporating Cover Crops and Reduced Tillage into Their Systems
Panelists: Jamie Baker, Tompkins County, NY
Dave Magos, Jefferson County, NY
Craig Phelps, Livingston County, NY
Moderator: Greg Albrecht, Agricultural Environmental ManagementbCoordinator, NYS Agriculture and Markets
Wednesday, August 8:
Challenges & Benefits of Building Organic Matter and Soil, Water & NutrientbInteractions Using Soil Health Management Systems
Panelists: Jesse Farwell, Orleans County, NY
Klaas Martens, Yates County, NY
Steve Nemec, Cayuga County, NY
Moderator: David Grusenmeyer, Executive Director, New York Farm Viability Institute
Thursday, August 9:
Farmer Panel: Challenges of Managing Herbicides Within Systems That Incorporate Cover Crops, Reduced Tillage & Diverse Rotations
Panelists: Todd DuMond, Cayuga County, NY
Mark Lott, Seneca County, NY
Jeff Toussaint, Orleans County, NY
Moderator: Paul Salon, CCA, USDA-NRCS Northeast Soil Health Specialist
For details on the 2018 Empire Farm Days event, visit the website at www.empirefarmdays.com