FROM ADA ICON - The Ohio No-Till Council and OSU Extention will hold an information meet in Ada on Thursday for area farmers who have unplanted acres and need information about what to do with these fields, according to Mark Badertscher of the Hardin extension office.

The meeting is from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in McIntosh Center on the ONU campus.

Badertscher said that the meeting will address answers about crop insurance, weed control and cover crops.

Resource persons attending: 
• Jeff Stachler, OSU Extension Auglaize County, will discuss weed control on prevented planting acres. 

• Brad Wingfield, Wingfield Crop Insurance Service, will discuss crop insurance issues. 

• Joe Nester, Nester Ag Management, will address why cover crops should be planted to help bring up nutrients from deep in the soil to replace nutrients washed out by all this rain. 

• Sarah Noggle, OSU Extension, Paulding County, will make available resources for dealing with stress.

Three cover crop experts, suppliers in Ohio, will keynote the agenda: David Brandt (Walnut Creek Seeds), Dwight Clary (Clary Farms LLC), and Cody Beacom (Bird Agronomics).  Moderator of this Panel will be Alan Sundermeier, OSU Extension, Wood County. 

Resource people who will be available to answer your questions include:
• USDA-FSA: Anita Green, Auglaize County,
• Dekalb Asgrow, Bayer: Brad Miller,
• Stewart Seeds:  Justin Petrosino,
• USDA-NRCS: Jim Hoorman, soil health.

The focus of the meeting will be on cover crop options: What will be your next cash crop?  Do you want to graze or harvest forage?  This can now be done starting on Sept. 1. 

When can (or should) you plant certain cover crop mixes?  How can we replace nutrients lost with all the rain?  What cover crop seeds are available?  Can leftover soybean seed be used?  How much can you afford?  Other than for grazing/forage, maybe $20/acre?

Questions and discussion by Bret Margraf, Seneca Conservation District, and Jan Layman, President of Ohio No-Till Council, will help lead this so everyone gets their questions and issues brought up. 

"We expect to have a lot of expertise in the audience," Badertscher told the Icon.