The Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Allegheny County Conservation District will host the second annual Western Pennsylvania Regional Soil Health conference on March 8 at the Atrium banquet facility, 1031 New Castle Road in Franklin Township.

The event will feature Barry Fisher, who serves as the Central Region Leader for the Soil Health Division of NRCS.

He will speak on adapting management for cover crops in a soil health cropping system.

Fisher will be focusing on the logical steps to successfully integrate a “Soil Health Cropping System” that includes adaptive nutrient strategies and also integrates no-till and cover crops.

Key strategies are to increase nutrient recoverability, while improving soil organic matter and soil aggregate stability for resilience to drought and stress.

Fisher will illustrate how cover crops can play multiple roles — scavenging nitrogen, improving infiltration and increasing water holding capacity — which are critical for achieving maximum production in conservation cropping systems.

Leroy Bupp, a farmer from southern York County and a board member of the Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance who has been no-tilling for more than 30 years, will demonstrate the effective absorption properties of no-tilled soil versus plowed soil that shows water runoff.

This is a hands on talk that is a must-see, really driving home the importance of keeping soil covered and minimizing disturbance.

In addition to our formal speakers we will be featuring a farmer panel with Bupp and Fisher and local farmers Ed Thiele and Rick Griebel.

Thiele, who operates The Thiele Dairy Farm in Cabot, began integrating cover crops into his operation about five years ago and recently began experimenting with planting green. Thiele will share his experiences with this new approach to planting and the benefits he’s seen.

Griebel a partner of Griebel Dairy in Lucinda, has been using cover crops for many years and has been planting soybeans green for several years.

Recently, Griebel has expanded his cover crop mixes and adopted season-long covers to improve soil conditions. Griebel will cover no-till planter setup and tricks he’s learned over his cover cropping tenure.

Along with detailing their cover cropping and no-till experiences we will be taking questions from the audience to spur some interactive discussion on no-till planting and integrating cover crops into your rotation.

Registration begins at 9 a.m. and includes light refreshments. The event will run from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and feature a buffet style lunch.

To register or for more information, contact Danielle Sheppard at the Allegheny County Conservation District at 412-241-7645 or visit ACCDPA.org. The cost is $15 and includes a hot lunch.

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