World experts convene at four Central California conservation agriculture meetings in August

Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation (CASI) is pleased to sponsor interactive conferences on conservation agriculture and controlled traffic farming at four locations in the Central Valley on Aug. 28, 29 and 30.

Presenters will include:

Jerry Hatfield
Director, USDA ARS National Soil Tilth Lab, Ames, Iowa

Don Reicosky
Retired USDA ARS, Morris, Minnesota

Rolf Derpsch
No-till expert, Paraguay

Clay Mitchell
Farmer, Geneseo, Iowa

John McPhee
Tasmanian Ag Research Institute, Devenport, Tasmania

The meetings will be:

Aug. 28, 1 - 4 p.m. UC Davis Heidrick Ag Equipment Center 112 Hutchinson UC Davis (530) 752-1898	Aug. 29, 1 to 4 p.m. UC West Side Research and Extension Center 17353 W. Oakland Five Points, CA (559) 884-2416
Aug. 29, 8 to 11 a.m. UC Cooperative Extension - Stanislaus County 3800 Cornucopia Way, Suite A Modesto, CA (209) 525-680	Aug. 30, 8 to 11 a.m. UC Cooperative Extension - Kern County 1031 S. Mt. Vernon Bakersfield, CA (661) 868-6200

Conservation agriculture production systems optimize food, fiber and energy production from available resources, increase soil health and productivity by increasing soil organic carbon and build up many additional ecosystem services that cannot be achieved by intensive tillage-based cropping systems.

Controlled traffic farming: Plants grow better in soft soil but wheels work better on roads - the same machinery wheel tracks in cropping fields are maintained year after year. There are a multitude of potential benefits of conservation agriculture and controlled traffic farming. However, these systems are currently very minimally used in California.

The purpose of this series of conferences throughout the Central Valley in August of 2012 will be to bring together world experts on these systems to share information related to the principles of conservation agriculture and controlled traffic farming and to discuss opportunities and benefits these approaches may have for current California systems.

For additional details, view the file attached below:

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