Save the Date
March 7-9, 2022
MCCC’s 2022 Annual Meeting and Conference will be held in conjunction with the Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference (CTC) in Ada, OH. The MCCC annual meeting will be held on Mon the 7th, followed by CTC. We expect to open registration in January. Additional details will be posted here and on the CTC website.
Making Connections: Cover Crops, Soil Health, People – 2021 MCCC Virtual Conference and Annual Meeting
February 23-25 hosted by University of Guelph
State/Province Reports
Past meeting information
- 2020- Kansas City, MO
- 2019- Springfield, IL
- 2018- Fargo, ND
- 2017- Grand Rapids, MI
- 2016- Madison, WI
- 2015- West Des Moines, IA
- 2014- Warsaw, IN
- 2013- London, ON
- 2012- West Lafayette, IN
- 2011- Ada, OH
- 2010- Ames, IA
- 2009- Windsor, ON
- 2008- Indianapolis, IN
- 2007- Minneapolis, MN
- 2006- Augusta, MI
2020
February 11-12 in Kansas City, MO
State/Province Reports
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Ontario
- South Dakota
- Wisconsin
Cover Crops and Soil Health: The Practical Way Forward
Dates:February 20-21, 2019
Location: Springfield, IL
State Reports
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Ontario
- South Dakota
- Wisconsin
Partner Reports
- National Wildlife Federation
- Conservation Technology Information Center
- Southern Cover Crops Council
February 21, 2019 – “Cover Crops and Soil Health: The Practical Way Forward”
Building your Soil Health System on Sound Principals – Barry Fisher, NRCS Soil Health Specialist
Nutrient Reduction Regulations – Sarah Noggle, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Ohio State University Extension
The Effect of N Management and Cover Crops on Tile Nitrate Loads in Central Illinois – Lowell Gentry, Principal Research Specialist in Agriculture, University of Illinois
Keynote: Practical Implementation of Cover Crops – Lee Briese, 2017 International Crop Adviser (CCA) of the Year
Soil Health – What’s Old, What’s New, and How Does it Relate to Cover Cropping? – Andrew Margenot, Assistant Professor of Soil Science, University of Illinois
Effects of Cover Crops on Weed Control in Soybean – Brent Sunderlage, Weed Science Researcher, Southern Illinois University
Farmer and Crop Adviser Panel Discussion (Youtube Video) – Moderator: Joel Gruver, Associate Professor of Soil Science and Sustainable Ag, Western Illinois University; Lee Briese, Centrol Crop Consulting; Terry Wyciskalla, Wyciskalla Consulting; Kris Reynolds, American Farmland Trust; Joe Rothermel, Farmer in Broadlands, IL; Trenton Carley, Full Throttle Ag Service
2018
Dates: March 13-14, 2018
Location: Fargo, ND
State Reports
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Ontario
- South Dakota
- Wisconsin
Partner Reports
2017
Dates: March 14-15, 2017
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Sponsors:
Platinum: Monsanto and Greenstone Farm Credit Services
Gold: Midwestern BioAg, Albert Lea Seed, North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Friend: Corn Marketing Program of Michigan and Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee
Business Meeting and Conference Program
Agenda
Tuesday – March 14, 2017- Business Meeting
State Reports
- Ohio
- South Dakota
- Wisconsin
- Kansas
- Nebraska
- Illinois
- Michigan
- North Dakota
- Minnesota
- Iowa
- Ontario
- Indiana
- Missouri
National Wildlife Federation – Partner Report
Wednesday – March 15, 2017- “Making Cover Crops Work- Experiences from the field”
Keynote- Cover Crop Termination: Considerations when selecting herbicides and the potential for resistance (Dale Shaner, Retired USDA-ARS – University of Colorado)
Concurrent Sessions
Track 1- Field Crops
- Challenges and successes of no-till and cover crops in Southern Illinois– Nathan Johanning /Adam Dahmer (IL)
- Use of cover crops for weed suppression in field crops in Kansas– Anita Dille/Josh Lloyd (KS)
- Interactions between cover crops and nematodes in diverse MI field crops systems– George Bird/Mark Sylvester/Fred Warner (MI)
- Partnerships and Information Infrastructure: How Indiana moved from 184,000 acres of cover crops to 1.1 million acres in 5 years– Lisa Holscher/Jamie Scott (IN)
- Long-term experiment looking at diversity and cover crops in corn-soybean-wheat rotations (15-20 years)– Bill Deen (ON)
Track 2- Vegetable Crops
- I can’t believe it’s not butternut on plastic! Year two rye cover and fertility observations– Ben Phillips/Mike Yancho Jr. (MI)
- Cover crops and conservation tillage systems in organic broccoli, peppers and squash– Ajay Nair/Wade Dooley (IA)
- Long-term cover cropping in conventional vegetable systems. Can you improve soil health while still tilling?-Laura Van Eerd (ON)
- Our experiences with cover crops and no-till vegetable production in southern Illinois– Nathan Johanning (IL)
- Mustard family cover crops for crop establishment and pest management in vegetables– Dan Brainard/Ben Werling /Ralph Ooman (MI)
Track 3- Forage/Grazing
- Lessons from over 10 years of grazing cover crops in beef production– Mike Buis (ON)
- Cover crops & forage-finished beef: A 3-year study of forage quality and cattle performance– Jason Rowntree/Jon Nelson (MI)
- Winter rye cover crop and forage comparison in Wisconsin – five year results: economics and farmer perspectives– Kevin Shelley (WI) / Brandon Gibson (MI)
- Grazing cover crops and small ruminants– Richard Ehrhardt (MI)
- Grazing multi specie cover crops with beef cattle – the Michigan experience– Jerry Lindquist/Chris Harrington (MI)
Afternoon Joint Session: Interseeding Cover Crops into Field Crops Systems: Geography makes a Difference
- Karen Renner (MSU), Aaron Brooker (MSU), and Marc Hasenick
- Marisol Berti (NDSU) and Douglas Toussaint
Back to the Top
2016
Dates: February 23-24, 2016
Location: Madison, WI
State/Province Reports
MCCC Partner Report
Presentations from “The Science of Cover Crops”
- What Issues Will Future Agriculture Face?– Jerry Hatfield, USDA National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment
- Reducing Soil Erosion and Improving Soil Health– Eileen Kladivko, Purdue University
- Cover Crops as a Nutrient Source– Laura van Eerd, University of Guelph
- Cover Crops and Water Quality– Tom Kaspar, USDA‐ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environmen
- Cover Crops, Forages, and Grazing– Kim Cassida, Michigan State University
- The Meta‐Economics of Cover Crops– Paul Mitchell, University of Wisconsin‐Madison
- New Approaches in Cover Crop Management- Anne Verhallen, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture
Back to the Top
2015
Dates: February 17-18, 2015
Location: West Des Moines, IA
State/Province Reports
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2014
Dates: April 8-9, 2014
Location: Warsaw, IN
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2013
Dates: February 28-March 1, 2013
Location: London, ON
State/Province Reports
NWF update: Roadmap to increased cover crop adoption
Presentation from the Making Sen$e with Cover Crops Workshop
- Why cover crop? Soil health impact (Kladivko)
- Putting a value on cover crops: The economics and sharp pencil calculations
- From planting to killing
- Why and how I use cover crops (Durivage, Briere, and Kratz)
- The view from the field: Successes and cautions (Durivage, Briere, Van Arkel, Van Segbrook, Buis)
- Cover crop research and your bottom line: Top 3 things that affect a growers bottom line from research
- Field crops
- Livestock
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2012
Dates: February 28-29, 2012
Location: West Lafayette, IN
2012 MCCC Proceedings (Click on titles in the Table of Contents to view)
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2011
Dates: February 23-24, 2011
Location: Ada, OH
2011 MCCC Proceedings (Click on titles in the Table of Contents to view)
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2010
Dates: March 2-4, 2010
Location: Ames, IA
Presentation from the general session
- Cover crops: Widespread adoption of niche conservation practice (Jeremy Singer)
- Lessons learned from the cover crop innovators student interviews (Joel Gruver, remote presentation)
- Farmer panel: How I have been using cover crops and why
- Cover crop management: Soil quality made easy…err! (Barry Fisher)
- USDA Programs to promote cover crops (Barb Stewart)
- Rye research at the University of Minnesota (Deborah Allan)
- Integrating manure and coer crops with manure slurry seeding (Tim Harrigan)
- What’s the buzz about radishes and brassicas?
- Fits, misfits, and mightfites: On-farm cover crop demonstrations in Michigan (Dan Hudson)
- MCCC cover crop decision tool: Guidance for cover crop selection (Dean Baas)
Posters
- Using cover crops to facilitate the transition to continuous no-till (Scanlon, Williams, Kladivko, Towery, Reeder, Baas, Mutch)
- Cover crop research at North Dakota State University (Lawley, Overstreet, Zwinger, Schatz)
- Cover crop biomass and subsequent corn yield for 13 winter rye, wheat, and triticale cover crop cultivars (Kaspar)
- Which cover crop type you grow could impact cucumber yield (Cartier, Parkin, and VanEerd)
- Ohio cover crop team outreach (Sundermeier, Hoorman, Islam, Reeder, Gastier)
- Red clover nitrogen contribution for corn (Sundermeier)
- Small footprint corn production in kura clover living mulch (Bard and Albrecht)
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2009
Dates: February 10-11, 2009
Location: Windsor, ON
Presentation from the general session
- Cover crops and water quality (Baas, Michigan State Univ.)
- Cover crops and fertility
- The value of cover crops for erosion control (Kaspar, Iowa State Univ.)
- Weed management and cover crops (Mutch and Taylor, Michigan State Univ.)
- Soybean cyst nematode and cover crops (Welacky, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)
Posters
- Cover crops before sweet corn: Does this mean less nitrogen fertilizer? (O’Reily and VanEerd, Univ. of Guelph-Ridgetown)
- Cover crops before sweet corn: Does this mean fewer weeds? (O’Reily and VanEerd, Univ. of Guelph-Ridgetown)
- Kura clover living mulch replaced nitrogen fertilizer for corn silage and grain production (Berkevich and Albrecht, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison)
- Using rye winter cover rops to protect the soil and the environment (Kaspar, USDA National Soil Tilth Laboratory)
- Management of soybean cyst nematode with winter wheat/legume rotations (Welacky et al., Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)
- Flat profit functions associated with variable nitrogen rates- Implications for producers, researchers and policy-makers (Deen et al., Univ. of Guelph)
- Cover crop impact on manure nitrogen sequestration and availability to corn in Ontario (Janovicek et al., Univ. of Guelph)
- Integrated weed management: Fine tunign the system (Taylor, Renner, and Sprague, Michigan State Univ.)
- A regional matrix tool for cover crop selection and guidance for farmers in the Midwest (Baas, Michigan State Univ.)
- Cover crop education in Ohio (Sundermeier, Ohio State University)
- Iowa cover crop projects (Kaspar, USDA-ARS National Soil Tilth Laboratory)
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2008
Dates: March 11-12, 2008
Location: Indianapolis, IN
2008 MCCC Meeting Final Report
State/Province Reports
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2007
Dates: April 10-11, 2007
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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2006
Dates: August 2-3, 2006
Location: Augusta, MI