Jim Weaver  Douglas County Conservation District   Lawrence, KS  66049

james.weaver@ks.nacdnet.net   Phone 785 843 4260 xt 3
 

 Jim Weaver has worked with the Douglas County Conservation District in Lawrence, KS for two years and holds the position of Program Coordinator. He administers all of the District State Cost Share, Grass Seeding and Buffer Programs. He also assists NRCS in federal cost share programs and is training to assist in Soil Conservation Technician activities. Jim attended the 2008 No Till Conference and obtained a State Conservation Commission grant to allow eighteen county producers to attend the 2009 No Till Conference.

Jim applied for and received a three year Clean Water Neighbor Grant for the Douglas County Conservation District through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to demonstrate to local producers the advantages of utilizing Cover Crops. The first four demonstration plots were planted in August of 2009 with sixteen additional plots planned for the following years.

Ryan Speer    Halstead, KS  67056

316-207-5779   jacobfarms@pixius.net

Ryan was raised in western Kansas near Dighton and graduated from Fort Hays State University in 1999 with an Ag-business degree.  He has been a certified crop advisor since 2000. Ryan worked as a agronomist for the Scott Coop in Scott City, Kansas for 5 years.  The last 7 years he has been farming with his two partners in Bentley, Kansas. They grow corn, soybeans, milo, wheat, alfalfa, sunnhemp, and various cover crop mixes. 

Larry Manhart    Grainfield, KS  67737

785-673-5510    larrym@ruraltel.net

Larry has been doing some form of no-till since 1980.  He has gone back and forth between no-till and some tillage for 15 years. Rotation was basically a wheat, milo or corn, fallow.  The last 10 years have been strictly no-till.   Since 2003 he has been experimenting with some sort of cover crops -- anywhere in the rotation.    At first, it was for a better way to get wheat planted, and it has also served the additional benefit of more residue and increased soil health prior to a corn crop.  

Gail Fuller, Producer - Emporia, KS
 

Gail Fuller has been experimenting with no-till since the mid-1980’s and has been has been 100% no-till since 1995.  He dryland farms on loams and silty loams with approximately 32” of annual rainfall.  Gail owns a small feedlot and is starting to incorporate livestock, intensive grazing, and cocktails into his no-till system.  In his presentation he will discuss cover crops and his experiences with a wide variety of them that he has tried over the past 10 years.   Gail has been president of Flint Hills Beef Hills Fest three times and has served on the board for 17 years.  His son and daughter are currently students at KSU, and that consumes quite a bit of his spare time.