Native plants provide many benefits for agricultural producers and landowners, such as pollinator habitat, protection of soil and water quality, and nutritious livestock forage.
The upcoming Grow Native! Native Plants for Pollinator Enhancement, Livestock Production, and Prairie Strips within Row Crops workshop will be Nov. 9 at the University of Missouri’s Bradford Research Center in Columbia, Mo.
This daylong event is intended for beekeepers, hobby farmers, gardeners, row crop farmers, livestock producers, recreational landowners and anyone else interested in the many benefits that native plants offer to farms and recreational land.
During the workshop, five experts will present information on how native plants provide benefits to farm revenues, livestock health, pollinators, wildlife, water quality and more. The event also will feature information on specific Natural Resources Conservation Service cost-share programs to which attendees may apply to help offset the cost of incorporating natives into their agricultural or land management practices, and a session on invasive plant control.
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DIVERSE PLANTING: Native plants provide diversity in a row crop setting. It allows for flowers that attract pollinators and grasses that hold the soil in place.
Speakers include:
- Dr. Lisa Schulte Moore from Iowa State University on integrating prairie strips in row crops for erosion control, soil control and pollinator habitat
- Jim Grace of Grace Native Seed on establishing and maintaining native forage for livestock
- Sarah Nizzi, farm bill pollinator conservation planner and NRCS partner biologist with the Xerces Society, on enhancing pollinators on farms with native plants
- Matt Arndt, consulting forester, arborist and owner of Matt’s Healthy Woods & Wildlife, on invasive plant control
- Ryan Lueckenhoff, private land conservationist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, on cost-share programs to put native plantings in place
The workshop is from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Registration is $14 per person for Missouri Prairie Foundation members, and $17 per person for nonmembers. Registration includes morning coffee and lunch.
Register online at grownative.org, by calling 888-843-6739, or by mailing a check, payable to the Missouri Prairie Foundation, and sending it to: Missouri Prairie Foundation, P.O. Box 200, Columbia, MO 65205. The registration deadline is Nov. 5.