The 2025 National Cover Crop Summit, a virtual event hosted by Strip-Till Farmer sister publication Cover Crop Strategies, is scheduled for March 18-20 and promises a strong lineup of innovative farmers and experts to help strip-tillers improve their cover crop usage.
This year’s program focuses on delivering practical tips and information on managing cover crops to improve soil health, protect the environment, support livestock operations and other ag sectors and enhance on-farm profitability.
While the full lineup of speakers and presentation topics will be announced in the coming weeks, here’s a look at 3 of the speakers and their varied agricultural backgrounds.

Gary Zimmer
Gary Zimmer — Middleton, Wis.
Known by many as the father of biological farming, Middleton, Wis., grower Gary Zimmer will be a leading presenter at the summit. An internationally known speaker, author and consultant, Zimmer is passionate about cover crops and the role they can play in improving soil health.
Zimmer owns and operates Otter Creek Organic Farm, a 1,000-plus acre farm in southwestern Wisconsin. He also co-founded Midwestern BioAg, a company specializing in advancing the biological farming methods he developed. In addition, he manages the organic farmland at Taliesin, the estate of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Nick Vos
Nick Vos — Hugoton, Kan.
Originally from South Africa, Nick Vos no-tills sandy soils near Hugoton, Kan., and places a large emphasis on using cover crops to overcome moisture challenges and to recycle available nutrients while keeping his soil protected from erosion.
His unique perspective from having grown up on a vegetable farm north of Johannesburg in South Africa, where he and his family dealt with highly unpredictable weather patterns, has helped shape his outlook on no-till, cover crops and other regenerative ag practices.

William Thiele
William Thiele — Cabot, Pa.
Residing in a part of the country that is prone to high rainfall, Pennsylvania native William Thiele first made the switch to no-till and cover crops in 2015 and hasn’t looked back. Thiele credits no-till and cover crops for a large reduction in ponding and run-off during especially wet periods on his farm near Cabot, Pa.
Never afraid to try something out of the ordinary, Thiele has spoken about the benefits of planting green and famously discussed what he calls the “Thiele Crazy Cover Crop Mix,” which features a wide variety of rye, sunflowers, rapeseed, tillage radish, crimson clover, buckwheat, brown top millet and annual ryegrass.
Head to CoverCropStrategies.com/national-cover-crop-summit to register for the 2025 National Cover Crop Summit and to see the full list of speakers and presentation topics.