The southwest regional no till conference will be held Jan. 29 at Saint Vincent college and will host Jim Hershey of Hershey farms and David Lamm, a District Conservationist for NRCS in Indiana.

Hershey will be speaking on maximizing yields and profits by utilizing no till and cover crop practices.

He is the president of the PA No Till Alliance and operates Hershey farms in Elizabethtown, planting more than 4,000 acres of corn, beans, wheat and cover crops.

He has been no tilling for more than 25 years and will share his experiences in the morning session and will be part of the breakout afternoon session where attendees will be able to ask questions and gather information one-on-one with Hershey and other producers to help evaluate what can work on their operation.

Lamm will also be a presenter discussing increasing profits through soil health.

Lamm is a district conservationist in Fort Wayne and a team leader for NRCS’ national soil health team, whose job is to promote and educate farmers across the country about the benefits of soil health and how improving the soil increases farm profitability and promotes a better environment.

He will also be part of an afternoon breakout session as well, and typically those are the most beneficial aspects of the conferences because farmers can ask speakers direct questions as well as have healthy discussion with other attendees you can’t get in a large gathering room.

Many are seeing the benefits of routinely adding cover crops into a rotation and how their frequent use reduce herbicide application and fertilizer inputs as well as improving soil structure, which helps retain soil moisture.

Conferences like this are a great way to learn what can work in our area and registration to attend is $30 per person and $40 per person after Jan. 20.

You can register and pay online at www.wcdpa.com/ or by mailing a check payable to the Westmorland County Conservation District; Westmoreland Conservation District, Attn: Christie, 218 Donohoe Road Greensburg, PA 15601.

For more information, contact Dan Griffith at 724-837-5271, Ext. 103. Nutrient Management credits, Conservation Planning Credits and CCA credits will be available.

Andy Gaver is a conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Butler County.