The public is invited to hear three farmers talk about their successes with conservation tillage, a farming practice that hasn’t been implemented widely in California, yet has potential for many benefits:

• Park carbon in the ground, where it won’t contribute to the build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
• Conserve water
• Suppress dust
• Reduce pesticide runoff into surface water
• Require less labor
• Save fuel

“Conservation tillage is not like previous agricultural innovations,” said Jeff Mitchell, UC Cooperative Extension vegetable crops specialist affiliated with UC Davis. “Farmers are not just introducing a single technology; they are changing their entire system of farming. Farmers are doing the frontline trouble-shooting work with support from scientists and ag industries.”