Ohio No-Till Field Day

It was great to see some of my readers today at the Ohio No-Till Field Day north of LaRue, Ohio.  I haven't been there much since we had tractor pulls there back in the 70's.

Hans Kok and Barry Fisher from Indiana did a great job explaining how to use cover crops and what they do for your soil.  I tried to show what happens if you do cover crop and how farmers can profit from them.

First I talked about soil and tissue testing which is only the chemical part of soil.  No-Till and cover crops improve soil structure and biology which is the physics and biological aspects of soil quality.  They all work in harmony and any missing piece can give less than desired results.

I told them that calcium and sulfur was my two cheapest inputs next year and that they are two very important elements of the 17 crops need.  I reminded them we tend to over nitrate fields and underfeed everything else.

The barn got lighter by noon and it was getting hard to see my last few pictures.

It wasn't my best presentation and it wasn't my worst.  I forgot to talk about accidentally sowing radish with wheat plantings.  My main point on the last few pictures was, if they can do this 800 miles north of here, every acre in Ohio will respond to it.

I did enjoy the opportunity and hope I persuaded one person in the audience to try the ideas and encouraged the rest to keep doing what they are doing.

Ed Winkle