EPHRATA - Washington State University Extension has opened registration for High Residue Farming under Irrigation workshops to be held in Moses Lake, Pasco, Quincy and Othello in December and January.

These workshops will cover the benefits and challenges of high residue farming, residue management, direct seeding, strip-tillage and the components of a high residue farming system. The workshops are for farmers in the irrigated Columbia Basin.

High residue farming is an umbrella term referring to cropping systems where tillage is reduced in order to maintain residue cover of the soil. Crop residue covering the soil provides the many benefits of high residue farming including savings of time, fuel, and equipment costs, decreased wind erosion, decreased water use, and improved soils.

Direct seeding (also called no-till), strip-till, and vertical tillage are all variations of high residue farming.

The speaker for the workshops will be Andy McGuire, Irrigated Cropping Systems Agronomist with WSU Extension.

All those attending these workshops will receive the four publications in the WSU High Residue Farming under Irrigation series.

For dates, registration, and more information go to http://irrigatedag.wsu.edu/hrfworkshops, or contact Andy McGuire at andrew.mcguire@wsu.edu, 509-754-2011 ext. 413.