- We know not to plant crotalaria now and the County Agent doesn’t wear a tie anymore, but Jefferson County and cover crops still go together. Photo Credit: Estimated date of photo is 1920’s from the State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, http://floridamemory.com/items/show/12
The first meeting of a Florida soil health/cover crop working group will be held in Jefferson County on April 1, 2014. This working group is being developed in response to the interest created by the recent National Conference on Cover Crops and Soil Health held in Omaha, NE. In addition to the 300 attendees, over 6,000 folks were able to view the opening session via webinar. Our Florida webinar attendees are the core producers in the working group. Natural resource professionals have joined the lead of innovative producers to spread the cover crop practices which provide a host of environmental benefits including the enhancement of organic matter.
The event is open to all individuals or organizations interested in cover crops and soil health. It will be hosted by UF/IFAS Jefferson County and the Jefferson County Office of USDA/NRCS. We will be touring two farms in Jefferson county that are using conservation tillage and high biomass cover crops to reduce soil erosion, improve water infiltration, suppress weeds, reduce evaporation and recycle nutrients. The group will meet after the tour and a sponsored lunch to review recent research and to discuss ways to assist landowners in adoption of farming methods which improve soil health, such as conservation tillage, cover crops, and sod based rotations.
For more info contact Jed Dillard at Jefferson Extension office at 850-342-0187 or dillardjed@ufl.edu