The Missouri State Conference on Cover Crops and Soil Health is a virtual and free event for people who want to know more about regenerative farming practices.

The University of Missouri’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture is hosting this virtual event via Zoom from 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 14-15. This conference will bring together farmers, agribusiness reps, Extension and agency staff, farm organization reps, researchers, and more to learn about and share experiences using regenerative farming to improve soil health.

Rob Myers, director of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture, says that the conference highlights will be presentations by Missouri farmers sharing their experiences.

Panel presentations

The first panel includes Kate Lambert of Uptown Farms, winner of the 2017 Leopold Conservation Award, and Happy Hollow Farm’s Liz Graznak, winner of the 2021 Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Services award. Other experienced cover crop users on the panel include Cecil Harness of Harness Farms and Johnny Hunter of Castor River Farms, who will share their approaches for building soil health.

Another producer panel will focus on grazing of cover crops, and will feature Dave Haubein of Haubein Farms, Josh Payne, and Mac Kincaid of Kincaid Farms.

Sessions by state agencies

The second morning of the conference includes an informative session on soil health measurement and presentations on cover crop resources and available cover crop incentive programs from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Missouri Department of Conservation, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Soil and Water Conservation Program.

Participants also will have the opportunity on the second morning to interact with experts through breakout rooms focused on various soil health topics, including tips on managing cover crops successfully, economics of cover crops and new soil carbon programs — in addition to recent progress in understanding soil biology and the results of MU’s on-farm strip trial program.

Conference registration is free, but requested in advance. Visit the event page for the Missouri State Conference on Cover Crops and Soil Health to register at cra.missouri.edu.

Source: MU Center for Regenerative Agriculture, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.