Sign up now for the Cover Crops: A Leading Strategy for Soil Health & Ag Order 4.0 Compliance event on February 16. This is a free, seven-hour field day hosted by Sustainable Conservation, Monterey County Farm Bureau and Braga Fresh to cover practical knowledge of cover cropping and regulatory water quality incentives to assist growers with complying with the Ag Order 4.0.

The event will include presentations from the following people:

Eric Brennan, USDA ARS

Gina Colfer, Wilbur Ellis

Tom Hearne and Keston Giudici, L.A. Hearne Company

Richard Smith, UCANR

Sarah Lopez, Central Coast Water Quality Preservation, Inc

A grower panel featuring:

Eric Morgan, Braga Fresh

Mark Mason, Huntington Farms

John McKeon, Taylor Farms

With a bonus field tour of Reduced Tillage in Large Acreage Vegetable Production at Braga Farms.

Jenny Pensky, California Marine Sanctuary Foundations

Katie Chiapuzio, Braga Fresh

The schedule for the day includes a morning meet and greet with coffee, Key Considerations when Purchasing Seeds, Ideas for Conservation Tillage with Cover Cropping, a BBQ lunch, a Q&A with a grower panel, a tutorial on how to conduct in-field measurements for the Ag Order 4.0 crop credit, and a reduced tillage field tour.

The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (CCRWQCB) adopted the General Waste Discharge Requirements for Discharges from Irrigated Lands, or Ag Order 4.0, in April 2021. According to the CCRWQCB: “Ag Order 4.0 includes incentives for the use of compost, organic fertilizers, and cover crops to improve soil health, increase moisture retention and carbon nitrate sequestration, and includes incentives to utilize nitrate in irrigation water to reduce fertilizer-nitrogen application and mine groundwater nitrogen from aquifers.”

To learn more about how to navigate Ag Order 4.0 compliance, click here sign up for the event.