Farming Evolution scheduled for Feb. 16-17 in Holyoke

The annual Farming Evolution event will be held Wednesday-Thursday, Feb. 16-17. This year’s program is packed with farmer/rancher presenters — people with boots on the ground, families to provide for and bank notes to service.

The Farming Evolution will be at the Phillips County Event Center for an information-packed two days. Please register online at www.farmingevolution2022.eventbrite.com.

Everything starts with the soil. Candy Thomas will open the discussion with several demonstrations including tests you can easily do in your fields.  

It’s not easy to change how you do things. Our farmer speakers will share what made them decide to stop doing what came easily and venture into the unknown. What were the challenges? What failures did they face? What changes did they see early on to inspire them to continue to operate differently?

Brice Custer hails from near Hays, Kansas, where he, his wife and two young boys operate Custer Farms LLC. He first tried out cover crops in 2008 and has transitioned all 3,400 acres to a rotation with cover crops and minimal wheat. Come hear Brice’s insights into “How to Not Lose Your Keester Farming.”

A familiar name in the world of soil testing is Ward Laboratory. Ray Ward is to help production agriculture use its resources as efficiently as possible. He will help answer the questions “What soil health tests do I need?” and “What do those numbers tell me?”

Growing multi-species forage crops under irrigation has provided a much-needed feed source for Caputa, South Dakota, producer Shawn Freeland. Always asking himself how he can improve his soil has taken him on a journey of decreasing inputs and increasing yields. Freeland will share how he has put “Farming, livestock and profitable” in the same sentence.

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