COLUMBUS, Ohio — As I write this in early July, we still plan to have our three Ohio no-till events Aug. 19-20. We are confident we can safely gather 50 to 75 at each site. We’ll stay outside if necessary. Bring a lawn chair and expect to leave some space around you. Masks are optional. (If you’re sick, please stay home.)

Paul Jasa, University of Nebraska, will present “No-till Seeding Equipment: Adjustments and Operation” at all three locations. The Nature Conservancy is covering Paul Jasa’s expenses.

Here are the dates, host and location for the three events:

• Aug. 19, 6:00 to ~9:00 p.m., Nathan Brown, 6110 Panhandle Road, Hillsboro, OH 45133;
• Aug. 20, 9:00 a.m. to noon, Fred Yoder, 7050 Butler Avenue, Plain City, OH 43064-9694;
• Aug. 20, 6:00 to ~9:00 p.m., Keith Kemp, 959 Georgetown-Verona Rd., West Manchester, OH 45382.

At each location, about an hour of the program will be specific for that site. Nathan Brown “planted green” and will discuss his experiences with several cover crops.

The Yoder farm will have strips of a dozen cover crop mixes, provided by Bird Agronomics and Walnut Creek Seeds (similar to the August 2019 field day at Nathan Brause’s). The Yoders planted some corn in 60-inch rows with soybeans interseeded. We expect to have morning sweets from Der Dutchman.

Keith Kemp hosts soybean research plots with OSU’s Laura Lindsay. She plans to be there to discuss her research, looking at variety, population, fertility, and date of planting. (First soybeans were planted Apr. 6.) Keith promises to end the evening with homemade ice cream.

We are not pre-registering. Just show up with a $20 bill (and a chair).

If we have to cancel because of COVID, we will inform through your OSU county Extension office, our webpage (OhioNotillCouncil.com), and agricultural media.

— Randall Reeder, Ohio State University Extension Agricultural Engineer (retired)

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