Jennifer Filipiak, Natural Resources CoordinatorSoil & Water Conservation Society Conference

July 28-30, 2014

Beyond the Cover Crops 101 Field Day

Emerging, innovative methods for engaging farmers and landowners in cover crops management

©NRS

Cover crops in Illinois…are non-commodity crops either interseeded into living cash crops or planted onto bare fields during fallow periods to save topsoil, improve soil quality, and increase nutrients available to plants

• Soil quality, increased SOM• Erosion control• Fertility improvements• Weed suppression• Insect control• Nutrient retention/availability

Oats and annual ryegrass drilled end of August on silage cut field, © NRCS

Illinois Agriculture

©AFT

Cover crops in Illinois

Radish + Rye©B Stikkers

Crimson clover©T Taylor

Cereal rye©AFT

Annual ryegrass + clover©NRCS

Annual ryegrass©NRCS

Cover Crops 101 Field Day

Important, but limited in topic and geography

©AFT

Cover Crops 101: The winter meeting

Farmer panels, Farmer presenters!Seed vendors, dealers, etc.

©Illinois Dept of Agriculture ©AFT

Innovations…

New audiences Expand geography Regional, state venues

Formats for advanced topics Applied research, deep dive

The pathway for new gurus…

New Audiences

Peer‐to‐peer learning, acknowledges women as the experts & decision makers on their own land.

Conservation staff (women) participate in discussion – no hierarchy, no lectures

Meetings without men for first part of the day

(after a meal) Farm visits to see practices on the ground and discuss with farmer and staff

Non-operator women landowners

©AFT

©AFT

No stupid questions Healthy soil resonates: “sweet” “alive” Need follow up Get landowners to field days?

New AudiencesNon-operator women landowners

©AFT

Expand Geography

Picture of signStatewide: IDOA Cover Crop Initiative

Evolution of IDOA’s “Tillage Seminars”

Reduced tillage + cover crops + nutrient mgt = healthy soil/resilient operation

Theme consistent, content varies regionally

Expand Geography

Mendota

Normal

Mt Vernon

Formats for Advanced Topics

© Talk.buffalostate.edu

FarmerFarmerResearcher

Researcher

© NRCS

Fishbowls & clickers

Formats for Advanced Topics

6/28/13: Roots for Improvement 101, indoors

11/19/13: Roots… II Presenters 30”, Networking 90” Planning, soil pit

Progressive Field Days

©AFT

3/14/2014: Roots… III Herbicide, seed choice, test

plots 6/20/2014: Seeds over East

Central Illinois Seed installation only

New cover crop gurus…

Farmer/Outreach professional pairs

$10k max Media training Support listserv conference calls

14

Cover Crop Champions

New cover crop gurus

Expectations:- 150 farmers, 10 crop advisors- Interviews- Articles

15

Cover Crop Champions

©IDOA

New cover crop gurus…

Year 19 champions$65k

Year 27 champions$46k

16

Cover Crop Champions

New cover crop gurus…Train the trainers

3-year program, NFWF Workshops and networking 3 specialists CC demo sites Training sessions General outreach

Community College network

Innovations, to sum up: New audiences Non-operator women landowners

Expand geography (regional, statewide) Conservation Cropping Systems Statewide initiative, highway signs

Formats for advanced topics Fishbowls & Clickers Progressive field days

Pathways for new gurus… Cover crop champions Train the trainer

Networking: farmers, researchers, vendors

Lessons learned: success!

Farmers love to hear about research if…

Partnerships, esppublic/private

©M Peterson

Lessons learned: needs more work!

Tailor your message/training Missing: chemical dealers,

implement dealers, farm managers Provide a pathway for new

educators (farmers, extension, etc.)

©B Margraf

Acknowledgements

IDOA Champaign SWCD Practical Farmers of Iowa National Wildlife Federation Dr. Shalamar Armstrong & Dr. Joel

Gruver Mike Plumer

Jen Filipiak, jfilipiak@farmland.org

American Farmland Trust –saving the land that sustains us by

protecting farm and ranchland, promoting sound farming practices and keeping

farmers on the land!www.farmland.org

©Lussier Photography