This webinar is part of the Introduction to ecological vegetable growing with Ignatius Farm webinar series offered in partnership between EFAO and Ignatius Farm. You can register for the whole series at a discounted rate here.

If you live in northern Ontario, you are welcome to attend this webinar free of charge – please use the coupon code COVNORTH when filling out the registration form to receive free admission.

All Indigenous growers, land stewards and community members are welcome to attend this webinar free of charge – please use the coupon code IND2026 when filling out the registration form to receive free admission.

Cover Crops and Green Manures

What is cover cropping and green manure? This webinar will answer these questions and discuss why they’re used in crop rotations. Learn how this practice can help increase soil health, crop health, and soil water retention. Hear from a market gardener how they have used cover crops in their vegetable crop rotation. A recording of this webinar will be available.

Speakers

Stephanie Vickers is the Soil Management Specialist for Horticulture Crops with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA) based in Vineland, Ontario. Steph works with growers, industry, and researchers to assess practices and technologies that improve soil management and crop production in all of Ontario’s horticulture sectors. Her current projects include trialing under-vine cover crops in commercial vineyards and cover cropping/intercropping options for organic garlic production.

Martina Schaefer is the founder and sole farmer at Spiral Farm, a 1/4 acre market garden on rented land in Elora, running a local CSA program. At this “human scale”, Martina uses hand tools for just about everything, including planting and managing cover crops and green manures. She’ll talk about choosing which cover crops to plant, managing both winter-killed and terminated cover crops without machinery, and will share some successes and failures she’s had over the past 9 seasons.

This event is offered in partnership with the Farmers for Climate Solutions’ Farm Resilience Mentorship Program (FaRM) and is a registered Knowledge Sharing Event with the On-Farm Climate Action Fund. Additional resources can be found in the FaRM Learning Hub.

This webinar is supported by funding from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario.