FARGO, N.D. — Learning about the benefits of cover crops, perennials and oilseed cash crops will be the focus of a North Dakota State University Extension Service field day on Aug. 15.
The full day of educational sessions and tours will be at the Coteau des Prairies Lodge in Havana, beginning at 8:30 a.m. and ending at 3:30 p.m.
Sessions at the lodge will feature information about alfalfa-corn intercropping, camelina and pennycress as cash cover crops and getting cover crops into a rotation.
Participants also will visit the field research and demonstration plots on the nearby farm. Stops include cover crops interseeded into standing soybean and corn fields, and a fertility study looking at the effect of cover crops on soil health and fertility when interseeded in corn.
“Use of cover crops is common in the Corn Belt, but incorporating cover crops like camelina and rye in corn and soybean in North Dakota is still a new concept and needs research,” says Marisol Berti, the study’s director and a professor in NDSU’s Plant Sciences Department. Berti is one of the field day’s speakers. Other NDSU researchers and Extension personnel, also are speakers.
Hans Kandel, NDSU Extension agronomist, adds, “Participating in this field day will provide an opportunity to learn about research plot findings but also see how the practices work on-farm at large-field scale. Interacting with other participants is also a great way to gain insights in improved soil health practices.”
Lunch is provided. Registration is required. Registration will be capped at 150 participants.
For more information on the field day and to register online, visit https://www.ndsu.edu/soilhealth/.
This field day is part of the outreach effort associated with a grant the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded to North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station scientists. The grant is being used to study how cover crops can increase the resilience and productivity of crops such as corn and soybeans and improve soil health and land use efficiency.
The grant is a collaborative effort of 13 researchers. Eight are from NDSU and the remainder are from the University of Minnesota, Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service laboratory in Morris, Minn.
— NDSU Agriculture Communication
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