Author Bio

Megan has been growing diversified small-scale produce in an urban environment since 2004, and made the leap to rural SE Indiana in 2020 to start Unvarnished Farm, a no-till market farm committed to soil, animal, and human health on 11 acres in Jefferson County. She sells at local farmers markets, to restaurants, and supports food resilience efforts for non-profits in the SE region as a year round grower. In her other role as Ag Professional, she is the Indiana Small Farms Conservationist for the south of the state, and is committed to supporting other farmers' conservation goals on their land. Presentation: "Building Better Beds: Using No-Till Systems to Reduce Weeds, Improve Soil Health, and Hold More Water": Transitioning to a no or reduced tillage system can have dramatic, positive effects on small-scale production models, but it's getting from a traditional tillage model to the no-till that can hamper success. In this presentation, Megan Ayers of Unvarnished Farm and Ryan Lee of Lee's Edible Acres discuss a step-by-step transition to no-till for small-scale fruit and vegetable production, and report on their experience in the south and north of the state on their respective diversified specialty crop farms.