• Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the 92 local SWCDs
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
• Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service
• Indiana State Department of Agriculture
• State Soil Conservation Board
• Indiana Soybean Alliance
• Indiana Corn Marketing Council
• Conservation Technology Information Center
• Vincennes University, Jasper Campus
• National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
• Wabash County Soil and Water Conservation District
• Dubois County Soil and Water Conservation District

 Soil cover

Corn stubble in cover crops 

 Strip-till

No-till beans 

Indianapolis --  What is unique to soils in the Midwest that makes

Pulling samples from a cover crop plot on Scott's farm.

selecting the right seed and successfully growing cover crops so important? Find out on September 18 at JA Scott Farms in Kosciusko County.

 

"Over 40 different plots of cover crop species and mixes are growing on our farm to provide farmers and consultants the chance to see what is working well in our Midwest soils," said Jamie Scott, one of 12 Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative (CCSI) farmers across the state.

 

Jamie Scott

The field day kicks off with an overview of JA Scott Farms from Jamie Scott. Scott is part of a family farm operation consisting of about 2,000 acres. The operation was an early adopter of conservation tillage. 

 

Now all tillable acres are no-tilled or strip tilled. A spring workshop and field demonstration on cover crops has been held for the last three years. The Scotts have coordinated cover crop aerial seedings in an eight-county area for the last three years resulting in 16,000 planted acres.

 

Jim Scott, Jamie's father, will lead "round robin" discussions in the morning talking about the Scott Farms' Approach to Production Agriculture and its Effects on Soil Health. Agronomist Rich Recker joins him at the root pit.   

 

Dave Goracke and Ron Althoff follow with a discussion on Behind the Scenes of Cover Crop Seed Production in the U.S. / Insuring Quality Seed Sources. Goracke  represents the Oregon Ryegrass Growers Seed Commission. Althoff is a representative from Saddle Butte Ag, Inc. Jamie Scott completes the round robins before lunch with a tour of the cover crop plots.

 

After lunch NRCS State Soil Health Specialist Barry Fisher and Scot Haley, NRCS Area Resource Soil Scientist, will cover Soil Health Indicators. Cameron Mills, another featured CCSI farmer from Cass County, talks about the Termination of Cover Crops.

"The more farmers can learn about cover crops, the better they can understand the benefits gained from using them, especially how they help the soil and their bottom line," said Lisa Holscher, CCSI Soil Health Program Manager. 

#     #     #