Cover Crops
Cover crops continue to work their way onto fields across the Midwest. While the benefits might be well known, so are the challenges in developing an on-farm system to work in each situation.
Letting growers take control of their destiny during challenging economic times
The Midwest Cover Crops Council, with the University of Illinois Extension, will be holding its annual meeting in Springfield, Ill., Feb. 20-21. The theme is, “Cover Crops and Soil Health: The Practical Way Forward.”
The new cover crop seeder option provides economical one-pass planting and incorporation with the Rolling Harrow soil conditioner by itself, or combined with a lead tillage tool for enhanced residue sizing and tillage.
AgDay national reporter Betsy Jibben caught up with one farmer who is deciding at planting sorghum. She talks to Tom Krull, a farmer in Constantine, Michigan and Zach Bolla, the Owner of Cover Crop Services, LLC.
Sustainability practices are not a silver bullet. They must be understood in concert with the specific geographies where they are adopted and the goals and needs of the individual farming operations.
Understanding the latest definition of no-till and the reasons to stay with it offer potential benefits to your management plan and can affect your bottom line as well.
“The No. 1 failure I’ve seen is when producers are interested in cover crops and just jump in without knowing what they want to accomplish,” says Paul Jasa, University of Nebraska Extension engineer.
New formed Local Seed Company says it will offer farmers a “direct-to-growers” option with a mission to provide custom crafted seed options delivered to the farm.
Cover crop support groups foster opportunities to learn from others
If you haven’t planted cover crops yet, you naturally need to know what it’s going to cost before you do. As the cliché goes, there’s an app for that. (Well, a spreadsheet.)
There’s little doubt that deploying cover crops can protect against soil erosion and bolster soil health. But new research from the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) looked into potential yield benefits as well.
The radish serves as one of many cover crop options for a no-till operation.