No-Till on the Plains to Host Dakotas Bus Tour

Join No-till on the Plains, fellow producers and soil health leaders Aug. 16 through 18, on a special trip that was last held in 2015. The tour will spend time with national leaders at their demonstration farms and grazing sites at South- and North Dakota. Dive into water, carbon and nutrient cycles; cropping and livestock diversity; and building a learner network with your trip partners.

The space is limited (54), the opportunities are limitless and the fee is "are you kidding me?" low.

Key details are:

• two departure sites (Aug. 16--Hays, Kan., at 6 a.m. and then proceed to Ward Labs, Kearney, Neb., at 8:30 a.m.)
• Aug. 16, tour Ward Labs; On the bus, Ray will teach soil science and geographic features as we proceed through the Sandhills to the outstanding, Dakota Lakes Research Farm, Pierre, S.D. Dwayne Beck leads the afternoon and joins the trip as a co-host.
• Evening Steak Fry and special celebration to recognize leaders including Dan Gillespie and Jody Saathoff (posthumously). Stay at Pierre.
• Aug. 17-18, Jay Fuhrer hosts at the Menoken Farm, Menoken, N.D. Jay is one of the leading teachers of soil biology and mimicking native rangelands with crop, insect and livestock diversity. We will also visit two other producers' sites (TBA) that explore the challenges and growth in the soil health journey.
• Aug. 18, return by early evening to Kearney and Hays.

Ray Ward--"As a kid, it was hard work but we always had to milk the cows, twice per day and the work never ended--soil health is similar in that it is a long-journey and there are no "off-days."

As a special bonus, the learning network that is formed will have the opportunity to meet at a special session at the 2023 NTOP Winter Conference at Wichita. Details to be provided.

Sponsors include: Green Cover, Exapta, Mountain View Seeds, Ward Labs, Arrow Seed, the Midwest Cover Crop Council, Jody Saathoff Memorial Fund, Nebraska SARE, Kansas SARE, Dan Gillespie Soil Health Fund, and Rebecca Gillespie.

Accommodations and meals are included in the three-day registration fee ($200, double-room; $300, single-room). Space is limited to 54 participants on the bus, so early registration is advisable. More details and registration are available at http://notill.org/ or contact, Aaron Sawyers, NTOP Coordinator, (785) 210-4549 or director@notill.org.

Discover more about No-till on the Plains by visiting http://notill.org/.