Come join the Macon County SWCD for a morning session focused on the nuts and bolts of strip-tilling, results from the Soil Health Partnership program and experiences from a strip-till user.

Speaker Mark Hanna will be presenting “Getting the Most From Your Strip-Till Equipment." Hanna is a registered professional ag engineer working in tillage, planting and other farm machinery topics after a career at Iowa State University. He will discuss adjustment and operation of strip tillage implements and effects on soil loosening, fertilizer placement and soil preparation for planting in the seed zone.

Soil Health Partnership will present on current standings within the program nationally, and specifically, in Illinois. There will be a review of Soil Health Partnership’s data collection and what soil health metrics growers can focus on currently that relate to yield. The Illinois Soil Health Partnership field data summary will include early findings of soil data compared to yield. To conclude, there will be a brief update on field sites this year and discussion about how the program is expanding to reach more farms in Illinois.

Eric Miller, a local strip till farmer, will discuss his experience adopting strip-till, followed by a farmer panel discussion featuring several local farmers, from beginners to veteran strip-tillers. Bring your management questions!

After lunch, there will be several manufacturers demonstrating their strip-till bars, as well as a demonstration of cover crop seeding. Participating manufacturers include Environmental Tillage System, Schlagel Manufacturing, Orthman, Yetter Farm Equipment, Kuhn Krause and Vulcan Equipment.

Lunch is being provided for free, but attendees will need to RSVP to Macon County SWCD by July 2nd. All attendees will have the opportunity to enter a drawing to win one of two FREE registrations to the National Strip-Till Conference being held July 26-27 in Iowa City, Iowa.