Henry County Conservation District and NRCS office offer several cost-share and grant opportunities for farmers. Their programs primarily focus on prevention of soil erosion. Part of that approach is to encourage the practice of cover cropping. Using funds from our local Ag Development Council the Conservation District purchased a no-till seed drill for a shared-use program. Soon after the purchase I met with the Conservation District Board to propose a field day for the seed drill. Seed drills can be a relatively easy piece of equipment to use, however, there are often unsuccessful plantings as a result of user error. I wanted to develop a hands-on program where producers can learn the ins and outs of this particular seed drill. I invited a former state specialist David Ditsch to speak about seed drill calibration. David has been to my office several times with soil samples where I struck up a conversation about my ideas for a field day. I set up a meeting before the program to get David and the Conservation District Board together to go over the seed drill mechanics and what was to be discussed at the field day. 

The program was held at the Henry County Fairgrounds. We began the evening with David doing a calibration run-through. We borrowed a neighbor’s tractor so that participants could actually see how the equipment works. We then went inside for presentations from Oldham County Ag Agent Traci Johnson who talked about forage establishment and our local NRCS Agent Logan Duke who talked about NRCS programs. I spoke about extension programs and other cost-share opportunities for farmers. The target audience was any farmer interested in utilizing a no-till seed drill. I developed this program in partnership with the Henry County Conservation District and NRCS. 23 people were in attendance. 9 were female, 16 male and 2 Asian/Pacific Islander. All participants were very engaged with the field part of the program. They continued their engagement through the presentation portion of the evening and asked multiple questions. We achieved a positive outcome with the seed drill being rented out for the fall planting season at least 3 times because of the program.