With farmers in Door and Kewaunee counties nearing harvest for some crops, a Sturgeon Bay event on September 18th may show you what could happen afterward. Peninsula Pride Farms is hosting a cover crop open house at the Peninsular Agricultural Research Station to show how different plants protect the land from runoff and promote soil health. State Soil Health Coordinator Jamie Patton says that while conservation techniques have been around for decades, more and more farmers are realizing that what happens below ground is just as important as the crops growing above it.

Visitors will be able to talk to Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) agronomists and explore different test plots as a part of the open house, which runs from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, nine percent of the corn harvest was used for silage, with nine percent complete, two days behind last year's pace and three days behind the average. Oats were 98 percent harvested, while winter wheat planting was 11 percent complete as farmers took advantage of the cool and mostly dry weather with six days suitable for fieldwork last week.