Ohio State Offers Four-Part Webinar Series in March on Organic Weed Management

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Experts from Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences will present a webinar series in March designed to help farmers learn updated approaches and practices for managing weeds with a focus on crop rotations, cover crops and soil management. 

Building a healthy soil is the foundation of organic farming and applies to all aspects of farm management, including managing weeds, said Alan Sundermeier, an Ohio State University Extension educator who helped organize the four-part series. Sundermeier specializes in agronomic crop production focusing on cover crops, soil quality and organic grain production. OSU Extension is the outreach arm of the college.

In addition to industry experts, the seminars will be presented by Ohio State researchers Robyn Wilson, an assistant professor of risk analysis and decision science; soil scientist Warren Dick; and Sundermeier.

Dates and topics covered by the webinar are:

• March 3: Soil and Weed Management, with a focus on how to improve the characteristics and health of a soil to create optimum conditions for raising crops.
• March 10: Managing Weeds with Crop Rotations, with a focus on effective weed management through the use of crop rotations and cover crops.
• March 17: Different Approaches to Weed Management.
• March 24: Adapting Our Message to Better Reach Organic Farmers. Geared toward educators, this webinar will discuss factors influencing how organic farmers decide to manage weeds and how educators can adapt their message to better reach organic farmers.

The webinar series runs the first four Mondays in March from noon to 1:30 p.m.  The webinars are free and open to the public but require preregistration at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8340195175844139777. A link to view all four webinars will be sent to participants after registering.

For more information about the webinar, go to http://www.ydae.purdue.edu/oarei/webinars.html or contact Sundermeier at 419-354-9050 or sundermeier.5@osu.edu.