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 Registering
for the Seminar |
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Carl Luebben, Shenandoah RC&D Council Member, talks
with Steve Groff at the seminar |
Roller/Crimper at Hilltop Farm |
Roller/Crimper at Hilltop Farm |
Cover crop growing at Walkup Holsteins |
Hands-on examination of soil quality under long-term continuous
no-till at Walkup Holsteins
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 Hydroponic lettuce growing in the
greenhouse at Ray Lynn Showalter Dairy |
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The speakers:
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Steve Groff of Lancaster, PA; a pioneer
of no-till field
crop and vegetable farmer
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Dr. Ron Morse of VA Tech: no-till organic vegetable
researcher
Attendees visited three local farms in long-term continuous no-till;
Received advice from farmers with over 75 years combined continuous no-till
experience
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Hilltop Farm - Focus: Long-term
no-till plus short-term alfalfa; rolling down cover crops; no-till
vegetables. Kenneth Knicely and sons Allan and Gary farm
150 crop acres and milk 50 cows. Most crop fields have not
been tilled for 10 to 15 years. Over that time, Kenneth has
used an exceptional six-year rotation (three years alfalfa + three
years row crops with small grain every winter) in combination with
continuous no-till to maximize soil quality and nitrogen-supplying
capacity. The Knicely's are starting to diversify into
vegetables. They recently experimented with rolling down cover
crops ahead of no-till corn and vegetables, with and without
herbicides. They were awarded a USDA contract to build two
demonstration cover crop rollers for USDA-NRCS, which were shown at
the farm.
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Walkup Holsteins - Focus: Using
rotation to ease transition to no-till; no-till drills, long-term no-till vs. tilled soil. The Myers family milks 105 cows and
crops about 230 acres between the home farm and rented tracts.
The operation also includes a beef herd. Crop rotation at home
involves corn silage, small grain silage, alfalfa hay, and now
soybeans. Cropland manager D.J. Myers is in the middle of
transition to continuous no-till. He is currently cropping
both long-term no-till and tilled strips on very challenging eroded
clay soils at the home farm.
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Ray Lynn Showalter Dairy -
Focus:
30+ years continuous no-till silage on extreme slopes; Aerway tool;
hydroponic lettuce. Ray Lynn Showalter milks 60 cows and
crops 35 acres. Through 30+ years of no-till, he has achieved
incredible soil quality on extremely steep land that has been
continuously cropped to corn silage/rye silage. Ray Lynn and
his family are also diversifying into vegetable production,
including greenhouse hydroponics and filed production on plastic.
They are not currently no-tilling vegetables, but want to learn more
about the practice.
Click Here
for more information on
the Roller/Crimper and No-Till from NRCS. |
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