A hands-on conference delving into the topic of no-till farming was held in Rockingham County on Tuesday.

The winter conference was hosted by the Virginia Cooperative Extension, the Virginia No-Till Alliance and the Natural Resources Conservation Service at the Rockingham County Fair Grounds.

The goal of the conference is to try and encourage farmers to switch their farms to no-till practices.

No-till is a method of growing crops from year to year that doesn't involve overturning the soil.

The Virginia Cooperative Extension says there are a lot of benefits to no-till farming.

For one, it reduces the loss of sediments and nutrients in the soil.

However, it can also have economic benefits.

No-till requires less tractor use, saving on fuel, and also requires less manpower.

"No-till farming requires less machinery because you don't have to pull deep tillage equipment," explained Wade Thomason, an Assistant Professor and Grains Specialist at Virginia Tech. "So you have less investment in equipment, you have less investment in fuel because you aren't burning nearly as much and less investment in time because you aren't having to pay somebody or do all the tillage yourself."

Thomason says about one-third of farmers in the Shenandoah Valley currently practice no-till farming.

In addition to the no-till presentations, farmers in attendance at Monday's conference also got a chance to check out a trade show with equipment dealers.

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