The 2024 winter conference will be Wednesday, February 7, 2024. The headline speaker will be Ray Archuleta. Ray “The Soil Guy” is a nationally recognized expert, deep thinker, and inspirational speaker on soil health management. He has traveled to and taught soil health principles in all 50 states. He retired from NRCS after 30 years of service and is a Certified Professional Soil Scientist.

Virginia Innovative farmers Clay Lowe and Jamie Shenk will present the top do’s and don’ts for no-till planting success. The 2024 conference will again feature a farmer panel to review some lessons learned from our 2023 growing season.

The conference will be held at the Agriteer location in Harrisonburg, VA. The venue is 1/2 mile north of the Rockingham County Fairgrounds at 4310 South Valley Pike, Rockingham, VA 22801. Registration will be free but preregistration is requested.

Click here to register.

The 2024 conference brochure is at this link.

The 2024 conference flyer is at this link.

VANTAGE Programs in 2023

VANTAGE Farmer to Farmer Mentoring

The VANTAGE Farmer Mentor Program helps pair experienced cover crop and no-till farmers with other farmers to teach these practices to increase soil health and crop production. The full brochure can be found by clicking here. Please contact Doug Horn (doughorn@vt.edu or 540-245-5750) if you are interested in participating in the program either as a farmer client or as a mentor.