Reduced Tillage Field Day at Freedom Food Farm

At Freedom Food Farm in Raynham, Massachusetts, Chuck Currie and his team are building the soil’s top mulch layer through a combination of transferred mulch and successive cover crops.  They use a no-till drill to seed cover crops, and then terminate by either mowing, rolling, or tarping.  Transplants are set using a water wheel transplanter with a no-till attachment. Additional green chop mulch is added to some crops for additional weed control and fertility. This approach combines transferred mulch practices, no-till residue management, and cover crop succession to maximize the potential benefits of high residues for weed suppression, soil health and soil moisture conservation.

Chuck will discuss the challenges and successes of this system, demonstrate key pieces of equipment used, and share his observations of soil health outcomes.

Speakers 

Chuck Currie: Chuck co-founded Freedom Food Farm with Marie Kaziunas in 2012, and has been growing a sustainable, certified organic, full-diet year-round for their community ever since. Chuck’s mission is to provide healthy, nutritious food using organic and regenerative principles, striving to model natural ecological cycles. They grow 5+ acres of field vegetables, 3 acres of grain, and 7 greenhouses of year-round greens and specialty crops, and pasture-raised livestock on 30 acres.

Julie Fine, New England Climate and Agriculture Specialist for American Farmland Trust, has worked on dairy and vegetable farms for many years before settling in western Massachusetts. In  2018, she earned an MS in plant and soil science from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at UMass Amherst researching the effects of winter-killed cover crops on nutrient cycling, weed suppression, and soil health. Julie is dedicated to working with farmers towards site-specific solutions for climate adaptation, soil health, and sustainable food production.