The Westmorland County Conservation District will be hosting the annual 2016 Southwest PA No-till and Soil Health Conference from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 27 at Saint Vincent College.

The conference will feature Leroy Bupp and Jim Harbach as keynote speakers and include farmer panels for the afternoon breakout sessions.

Bupp is a no-till farmer from southern York County with more than 30 years of no-till experience. He is a member of the PA no-till alliance and has an excellent working knowledge of soil health and its impacts to no-till systems.

Harbach is a dairy farmer from Clinton County and has been no-tilling for more than 40 years and is also a member of the PA no-till alliance. His talk will focus on his experiences during his 40-year span as well as integrating cover crops, the benefits of soil health and beneficial bugs found in his system.

The afternoon sessions will include a panel featuring farmers from Fayette, Indiana and Westmoreland counties along with the two aforementioned keynote speakers.

Nicole Woods, a PDA plant industry technician, will be speaking in the afternoon covering several topics including record-keeping, updates on rules and regulations and new rules on worker protection standards.

Registration is $35 per person if received by Jan. 20 or $40 after.

For more information or to register, contact the Westmorland County Conservation District at http://wcdpa.com.

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