More than 350 farmers and industry members from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the surrounding area gathered this week in Fargo, N.D. for the 14th annual Conservation Tillage Conference (CTC).
The CTC is jointly hosted by University of Minnesota (UMN) Extension and North Dakota State University (NDSU) Extension.
More than 40 speakers presented about topics related to conservation tillage, cover crops and fertility. Steve Groff, a Pennsylvania farmer and founder of Cover Crop Coaching, presented the keynote addresses about incorporating cover crops. Groff has been using cover crops for more than 35 years and manages over 400 replicated cover crop plots to document the investment of cover crops and how to use them to increase profits.
Noah Hultgren, a Raymond, Minn., farmer, attended to learn from other farmers and experts at CTC.
“Hearing from other farmers about what methods have or haven’t worked on their operations is invaluable,” Hultgren says. “I’m able to bring back information and learn how I can continue building soil health on my farm.”
Some of the information presented at CTC is based from research supported by soybean checkoff funding.
“New information about cover crops and soil health practices is constantly being tested and discovered. Conferences like CTC gives growers a chance to keep up with this information,” says David Kee, Minnesota Soybean’s director of research, who spoke to Red River Farm Network about the CTC. “With smaller breakout sessions and table talk sessions, this gives growers a chance to find and learn from mentors, or be mentors to other farmers, so they can make applicable cover cropping and soil health decisions for their operations.”
