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News Releases Archive (Prior to 2011)

College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

CFAES

Tour on Aug. 27: Cover Crops’ Big Benefits

August 16, 2011

CELINA, Ohio -- Jeff Rasawehr, a family farmer in western Ohio, has had growing success with cover crops.

He credits his farm’s rich soils to incorporated cover crops and to interseeding clover into grain crops.

And he says incorporating rye into soybeans has not only improved the soils’ tilth and cut weeds and pests but also has helped revive yields.

He’ll talk about it on Aug. 27 on a free tour of Rasawehr Farms, a 2,100-acre, fourth-generation family grain and seed operation in Mercer County. The program is part of the 2011 Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series.

Included will be details on the farm’s use of cover crops to improve no-till methods and enhance the absorption of nutrients in the soil -- work for which Rasawehr has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program.

Hours are 2-4 p.m. at 8820 Kuck Rd. in Celina. For more information, call 419-305-0187 or e-mail pjrasawehr@watchtv.net.

Six organizations, including Ohio State University’s Sustainable Agriculture Team, are presenting the Farm Tour series.

Get complete details and a list of all 36 tours at http://go.osu.edu/DR3.

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Author(s): 
Kurt Knebusch
Source(s): 
Jeff Rasawehr