‘Agricultural Conservation, Protecting Water: Keeping Soil and Nutrients in the Field’ will be the theme of the Hardin County Field Day on Friday, Aug. 26.
This is the second year for this field day, cooperatively sponsored by the following partners: The Nature Conservancy, John Deere, Findlay Implement, Chris Kurt, Randy Boose, OSU Extension, Hardin and Putnam Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Ohio Farm Bureau/Blanchard River Demonstration Farms Network, Ohio Department of Agriculture and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The event location will be approximately one mile south of Dunkirk on State Route 68 and Township Road 50. Parking will be at Randy Boose’s property and participants will ride a wagon to Chris Kurt’s farm for sessions.
Registration will begin at 8:15 am, with coffee and donuts provided by Ag Credit. The field day activities will begin at 9:00 am, following a welcome by Hardin SWCD Chairman Jerry McBride. Trailers will provide access to tents and field demonstrations that address several ag conservation and water quality issues.
There will be different sessions that participants can attend throughout the day. Dr. Hans Kok of the Indiana Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative, will discuss soil health that promotes a continuous, systematic approach to production agriculture, resulting in improved profitability, soil quality, and water quality focusing on continuous no-till/strip-till, cover crops, precision farming, nutrient and pest management.
Dr. Christopher Spiese, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Ohio Northern University will share information about the Two-Stage Ditches that have been installed in the Cessna Creek Watershed with the aim of reducing nutrient loads. The results of a 2-year monitoring study to assess the results will be presented. Kevin King, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service will address ‘Edge of Field Research: Phosphorus movement in surface run-off and drainage discharge. The ARS network consists of 20-paired fields in the Eastern Corn Belt Region of Ohio.
Dr. Jon Witter, OSU-ATI Assistant Professor of Agronomy and Soils, will discuss phosphorus removal bed construction. These beds are a way to collect phosphorus from both surface run-off and drainage tile before water leaves the field. Stan Livingston, a Soil Scientist with USDA-Agricultural Research Service will explain blind inlets’ general design and the thought process that went into the blind inlet concept. He will also share monitoring results and watershed scale effects of blind inlets as a tool to filter out nutrients that otherwise could enter the water supply.
Joe Nester, owner Nester Ag LLC, an independent crop consulting business and former agronomist, will be discussing the 4Rs of Nutrient Stewardship, that include Right Source, Right Rate, Right Time, and Right Place in relation to Soil Health’s impact on nutrient efficiency and retention. Clark Hutson, Ohio Department of Agriculture Area Program and Western Lake Erie Basin Specialist and Jocelyn Henderson, ODA Pollution Abatement and Resource Management, will answer questions about the new fertilizer and manure application rules for the Lake Erie Watershed.
Mark Badertscher, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, OSU Extension-Hardin County will provide information about how local farmers can participate in Nutrient Management On-Farm Research. This session will include information about the nitrogen rate, nitrogen timing, and phosphorus placement trials being conducted in the county.
Andy McClure, Administrator of the City of Toledo Collins Park Water Treatment Plant will answer questions about ‘What is Toledo Doing?’ to assist with the water quality issues in Lake Erie. Andy is a registered professional engineer in the State of Ohio and holds a Class 3 Ohio Water Supply Operator’s License. He has 25 years’ experience in the field, and began as a water treatment plant operator in Blissfield, Michigan.
During lunch, Dr. Chris Winslow of Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory at Lake Erie will address the ‘Current State of Lake Erie.’ Following lunch there will be field demonstrations of technology and equipment options available from Findlay Implement Company for injecting fertilizer directly into the soil for incorporation using the John Deere 2510H toolbar with a dry fertilizer attachment and a Montag cart. Legacy Farmers Cooperative will provide information about their minimum disturbance strip-till toolbar with a cover crop seeder.
The Hardin County Field Day ‘Agricultural Conservation, Protecting Water: Keeping Soil and Nutrients in the Field’ requires participants to pre-register to ensure a lunch count for the event. Please call the Hardin Soil and Water Conservation District at 419-673-0456, extension 3 by August 17 to attend this free event. CCA and CLM credits are pending.
