March is Member Month at EFAO! Every March, we offer a series of events to prospective members at free or discounted rates, to give folks a chance to experience membership without the commitment. Members who join EFAO or renew in March (regardless of when their membership expires) will be entered to win 3 books of their choice from New Society Publishers! Visit the EFAO membership page for more details.

Ken Laing presents this EFAO/FaRM webinar which will include a closer look at cover crop use. Attendees will learn from Ken’s wealth of experience with cereal grain, including knowledge gained in the last 4 years of Ken’s research with Living Labs focusing on vegetable crops. The Living Laboratories Initiative is an integrated approach to agricultural innovation that brings farmers, scientists, and other partners together to co-develop, test, and monitor new practices and technologies in a real-life context.

This webinar will include a Q&A session after the presentation as well, so bring your questions! Ken will also speak briefly about his work as a mentor with the Farmers for Climate Solutions FaRM program, including how you can connect with him for more insights.

This webinar is part 2 (of 2) of Ken’s Cover Crop winter series. You can attend either or both sessions, and register for Part 1 “Don’t Farm Naked – An Introduction to Cover Crops” here.

About the speaker

Ken (he/him) grew up on a farm near the town of St. Mary’s. When he studied at the University of Guelph, Ken’s passion for agriculture led him to earn a degree in horticulture. After completing his studies he moved with his wife, Martha, to Martha’s family farm and established Orchard Hill Farm in 1979. For the first phase of their farming career they produced pick-your-own strawberries, raspberries, peaches and elderberries. They purchased their first team of draft horses in 1980. In 1989 they began the transition to organic farming and grew some grain crops in addition to the fruit. In 1997 Martha and their daughter Ellen started a small CSA garden producing vegetables to help pay for Ellen’s university tuition. Over the years the CSA became the main enterprise on the farm, and today livestock is a major focus. From 2020-2023 Ken ran no-till organic vegetable trials with Living Labs – Ontario and EFAO.

This event is held in partnership with Farmers for Climate Solutions

This event is an OSCIA-recognized Knowledge Sharing Event (KSE) for farmers with On-Farm Climate Action Fund (OFCAF) projects in the Cover Cropping category. Questions about OFCAF should be directed to OFCAF@ontariosoilcrop.org.