Indiana Conservation Agriculture News

Planting Green Drives Bold Changes for Indiana Farmers Focused on Soil Health and Conservation

Tue, 21 Jun 2022 20:17:04 GMT

Spring planting is all but finished, according to USDA. However, for some Indiana farmers, their fields were green long before their row crop seed ever touched the ground.

Freshly tilled soil, perfectly pristine rows and dots of emerging plants as far as the eye can see is not how Owensville, Ind., farmer Aaron Krueger rolls.

“Last year was the first year we really began planting green into what I would call big covers,” says Krueger, who is in his mid-20’s and farming with his grandfather Ronald.

Planting green is when farmers seed into cover crops 5’ to 7’ tall, including cereal rye and legumes. Krueger then rolls or crimps the covers down ahead of the planter. The end result can, as he says, look a little messy.

“Crimping that cover down creates a nice mat for weed suppression for moisture retention,” Krueger says.

He’s found it also doesn’t hang up as much on the planter. As the flattened covers breakdown, the nutrients are returned to the soil.

“I sent off a sample a couple of weeks ago of the above-ground biomass to a lab in Nebraska and they ran an analysis on it for the nutrients,” Krueger says. “It actually came back that the biomass had about 70 lb. of nitrogen in it.”

Trying new things may seem logical for a young farmer like Krueger, but his grandfather is rolling right with him.

“At my age, it gets a little harder to make changes, but I’ve trusted my grandson,” said the elder Krueger. “It’s working for us.”

Ronald says last year, some of these fields had the best crops he’s ever seen grown.

“When he planted it, I thought there will never be a stand of corn in the field,” laughs Ronald remembering his doubts at the time. “I thought it can’t come through all of that, but it did.”

He ran the combine at the end of that season and the yield monitor confirmed their success. Krueger says one of the other benefits of heavy cover crops year after year is improved water infiltration, reduced soil loss as water draining into the ditches between their fields runs clear.

“It’s a real-life example of what can happen if you transition from a conventional operation to a more soil health and environmentally focused operation,” says Jerry Raynor, Indiana state conservationist with NRCS. “To see what Aaron is doing now, my next question for him is, what would you like to do next?”

From less need for nitrogen to natural weed suppression to a decrease in tillage, the savings quickly grow, especially as diesel prices hit new records. ( RECORD DIESEL PRICE COVERAGE )

“If you have to work fields a time or two and then put a pass on of anhydrous, or whatever, you have to be equipped where you can do it all at once,” said Frank Bender, a neighboring farmer from Poseyville, Indiana. “In my situation, it’s pretty much just one pass.”

Like the Kruegers, Bender farms with heavy cover crops and says the system is working. The setup is similar for fellow Indiana farmer Tom Rudolph.

“We’re trying to do something we’ve been doing for 100 years in a different way and it’s hard for everyone to wrap their head around,” Rudolph says.

This year, the corn is up and so are their expectations.

“It takes a few years to get used to it,” Krueger says. “Seeing is believing and it’s just a matter of slowly increasing your comfort level.”

As planting green becomes the unconventional standard for their farm’s future.

RELATED COVERAGE

Success Tips for Planting Green into Cover Crops

Looking for a Quick ROI on Technology? Here's an Investment that Pays For Itself in a Year

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 19:55:01 GMT

From planters planting valuable seeds precisely in the ground to combines tracking every bushel and moisture in a given field, technology is racing advancements to agriculture.

“We might not be first adopters right out of the gate, but maybe kind of see a technology out for a year or two, before we decide if we want to use it or not,” says Brian Scott, a farmer in Delphi, Ind.

With every pass and every plan on his Indiana farm, technology is engrained in much of what this conservation-minded farmer does.

“We use technology pretty much every day,” says Scott. “Just today, I got some spray records from a neighbor that did some spraying for us. We left check strips out in those fields. So, I’ll be able to upload those and see them during harvest and cut those pieces out and see if we got a return on that chemical pass.”

“Low Hanging Fruit”

What Scott calls the “low hanging fruit” of technology, or common technology like auto-guidance on tractors, is a must. It’s diving into other technologies that require more research.

“We really have to scrutinize the prices on things and make sure they work for us,” he says.

Careful consideration, and the price versus payoff piece of the puzzle, is something where this Indiana farmer is not alone.

“Farmers really want to know that value proposition and technology,” says John Fulton, a professor and Extension specialist with Ohio State University.

Calculating the ROI

Fulton says the return on investment (ROI) can be big, but the upfront costs are often the focus for farmers.

“Some of these technologies aren’t cheap,” says Fulton. “We see that with some of the planter technologies. A farmer may be cutting the check for a $30,0000 or $40,000 retrofit or to have that technology on that planter when it comes from the manufacturer.”

While the initial costs can be big, Scott says investments are measured in various ways on his farm.

“We’ve finally put electric meters on the planter, that’s been a big one, to improve our accuracy,” says Scott.

As Scott focuses on accuracy in seed placement, the technology also spurs a savings in seed costs.

“We had to manual row shut offs on the system before, now every row shuts off automatically, and it’s kind of surprising how much more seed savings we’ve had there,” he adds.

Technology that Pays Quickly

For the Indiana farmer, there’s a high bar set when he decides to adopt technologies on his farm.

“I have an expectation of what it’s going to do for us when we get it,” says Scott. “So, I do kind of want that immediate response from it. We know it may take a few years to pay for it, but we want to see some of the benefits right away.”

A recent Farm Journal survey found 67% of farmers expect a return on investment in three years when paying for technology. And 22% expect that payoff to happen even quicker, even within one year.

“Most of our data would suggest that from a guidance and section control standpoint, it’s a one-year if not a two-year maximum, on terms of payoff for those technologies,” says Fulton.

Looking for a Quick ROI on Technology? Here’s an Investment that Pays For Itself in a Year

While section control and guidance can produce ROI quickly, Fulton says there are other technology investments that take longer to provide a return.

“Variable rate fertilizer in some cases can be a little bit longer in terms of a payoff,” adds Fulton. “It could be six or seven years, just because you’ve got to go through a couple of applications to see the value of that. But in general, some of these technologies are a one- or two-year payoff.”

Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie puts plots in every year to drill down the price tag and payoff of investments.

“The biggest benefit I’ve seen from implementing a full variable rate technology (VRT) program on the farm is definitely ROI,” says Ferrie, owner of Crop-Tech Consulting.

He says the financial benefits don’t show up just in money coming in, but also in terms of savings on input costs.

“The ROI for seed costs usually goes down, so our seed expenses go down,” says Ferrie. “Now, we can add a little bit to that VRT, the seed cost goes down with our VRT customers. Nitrogen may not change in the field, but we’d be moving nitrogen around in the field, so the overall N rate may not change that much, but on some areas, we’ll be applying more, in some areas we’d be applying less.”

From reducing input costs to driving higher yields, reaping big rewards is a constant quest.

“On average, we see 4% on some of those technology savings to the farmer in terms of inputs used, but we’ve seen easily 7% to 10% savings, and depending on the field size and shape, it could be in the 30% savings department as far as inputs,” adds Fulton.

What You Need to Know About Rain, Inputs and Opportunity in Cover Crops

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 19:54:13 GMT

When he came back to the farm 11 years ago, Brian Scott was determined to protect his family legacy, while still trying new practices. Today, he and his father farm about 2,500 acres of diverse crops in Monticello, Ind.

They grow three kinds of corn: popcorn, waxy and dent, along with wheat and soybean acres. Cover crops, Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) buffers and soon a pollinator plot also live on many of their fields. They’re also 100% no-till.

“When I came back in 2009, we had too many full-time people,” Scott says. “By making changes to use conservation, we’ve cut out a lot of the extra time and labor it takes to farm.”

That doesn’t mean it was always easy. No-till had few curveballs for Scott, but cover crops presented challenges that still require tweaks today.

“The rule of thumb around here is to wait until soybeans have hit about 50% leaf drop to fly in cover crop seed,” Scott explains. “That tends to be in the middle of September, which can be a little late to get the crop established. Now, we’re flying beans on the last week of August, regardless of what the beans look like because that three weeks of heat is more important than being shaded or not.”

It takes tweaks field by field though, because as you move north, the heat dissipates faster and could require an earlier planting date. So, it’s a constant game of wits.

When it rains

The 2019 spring season was especially challenging and forced Scott to try a new practice — perhaps before he was ready to make the leap: planting green. To his surprise, it wasn’t as hard as he thought.

“We planted beans into cereal rye that was only about 4” to 6” tall,” he says “I actually like this better because we’ve had trouble in the past with beans getting too tall when planted into the much-taller rye.”

The cover crops help keep the ground firmer in the spring, too, which means he experiences fewer planting delays. In addition, no-till not only helps with ground firmness, it saves him considerable time.

“We don’t have to have another guy in the tractor in the spring; it’s just me and dad,” Scott says. “I’ll run the planter, and he’ll run seed to me. And in the fall, when guys are rushing to get a tillage pass, sometimes in not so great conditions, we can finish harvest on our terms and start plans for next year.”

Benefits beyond the soil

Obviously one of the main reasons farmers employ conservation practices is to preserve the soil, and he’s seeing that. Scott has less erosion, greater organic matter, better water holding capacity and has even seen yield benefit. In the end though, it has to pay off.

“One place I’ve seen savings is in my herbicide bill,” he says. “I spread about 50 lb. of cereal rye and 50 lb. of potash to get a good pattern — about $18 per acre. I can typically wait until the middle of May to spray a burndown with residual, which means I can often skip my post-emergent herbicide application.”

On top of herbicide savings, he’s saved thousands on fuel by not tilling. Tillage takes high horsepower and a lot of fuel to move the earth — especially conventional tillage. Cutting out that pass means he doesn’t have to buy new tractors from wear and tear, and he can continue to expand the farm because he knows that’s an expense that won’t be there.

“I have two little guys who might want this farm after me — conservation makes sense,” Scott adds. “Plus, it’s good on your checkbook. We’re spending less on inputs than we did before.”

Pollinator Habitat Fits Farmer’s Sandy Soils And Delivers A ROI

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 19:52:51 GMT

This article was written by Brian Scott, an Indiana farmer, blogger https://thefarmerslife.com/ and a Conservation Steward for the America’s Conservation Ag Movement.

Farming sand doesn’t usually produce the most fruitful harvest come fall. Add in a woodland along one border, and the yields on the edges drop even more. A field we once rented but now own is going to have nine of its 23 acres put into a pollinator habitat cover with help from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Farm Service Agency (FSA), and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

Flat, with decent soil on the south side, but with a steep rise to a sand hill on the north side, this field is only partially productive. Since we purchased the farm in 2017, we have yet to plant a crop on the hill. In the rental years we put dollars into seed, fertilizer and weed control. But unless it rained a lot, we wouldn’t see much grain in the combine at harvest due to the sand. Couple that with a meandering, yield-robbing tree line while starting the year planting 60’ wide along the curves on a small, 9-acre patch, and there’s just not a return on investment.

We already participate in CRP. Having enrolled grass buffer strips along most of the drainage ditches running beside our fields, we decided to see what the program offered for our little sand hill. As it turned out, a pollinator habitat practice fit the bill nicely. Two years in the making to get all the stars (and funding) to align, it looks like spring 2021 will see the sand hill seeded to a prescribed pollinator mix. Between the cost share payment for about half the seed which costs quite a few dollars, and the annual CRP payments going forward, we figure our costs will be recouped in year two. By the third year we’ll be making a little money. Certainly, because we are reducing our fertilizer, energy and pesticide costs, more than continued futile attempts to grow corn and soybeans on the beach make little sense.

Pollinator populations have been declining rapidly in recent years. Most of us are familiar with the colony collapse disorder (CCD) that hit honey bee colonies around 2006. The CCD and other factors, such as poor nutrition from loss of foraging habitat and pathogens (particularly varroa mites), have been associated with hive mortality that has averaged around 30% each winter. Less visible but just as important is the sharp decline in native pollinators. Adopting practices that provide nutrition for pollinators addresses one of the factors associated with these declines.

Because pollinators require a food source throughout their foraging season, the CRP pollinator habitat practice requires a seed mix that includes seeds for multiple plants that bloom across the growing season. The minimum seed mix requires seed from three plants that bloom in each of the early, mid- and late-flowering seasons. We choose a more diverse seed mix. It only weighs 25 pounds but includes seed for 24 different flowering plants (see seed list below). This seed mix will also provide habitat for bobwhite quail, pheasant and songbirds.

For our farm, the pollinator habitat practice will work by reducing costs, establishing a year-round cover that protects the soil from erosion, protecting water quality, as well as providing wildlife habitat.

Seed Mix Used:

Graminoid
Little Bluestem
Prairie Dropseed
Sand Lovegrass
Prairie Junegrass
Sideoats Grama

Forbs and Legumes
Frost Aster
Hairy Beardtongue
Spotted Bergamot
Black-Eyed Susan
Tall Blazing Star
Common Evening Primrose
Compass Plant
Gray-Headed Coneflower
White Prairie Clover
Purple Coneflower
Lanceleaf Coreopasis
Field Goldenrod
Stiff Goldenrod
Lead Plant
Wild Lupine
Butterfly Milkweed
Slender Mountain Mint
New Jersey Tea
Purple Prairie Clover
Rasinweed
Round-Headed Bush Clover
Common Spiderwort
Hoary Vervain

Note: We will be following along with Brian’s pollinator habitat as he goes through his first year of implementation. If you are interested in learning more about how NRCS can help you incorporate conservation practices on your land, contact Ethan White, Manager of Farmer Outreach and Engagement at Trust In Food™, a Farm Journal initiative, and he will direct you to the right resource in your state. If you would like to know more about the work Brian is doing with America’s Conservation Ag Movement, go to www.trustinfood.com/americas-conservation-ag-movement/; or, email us at conservationag@farmjournal.com.

Five Reasons Why I Started Using Conservation Practices On My Farm

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 19:52:06 GMT

This article was written by Keith Mears, who farms with his family near Delphi, Ind., and is a Conservation Steward with the America’s Conservation Ag Movement.

The most important step to making a change on your farm is determining why you are going to do it. Without a firm understanding of why, it will be too easy to lose motivation and change your mind when challenges arise. In order to encourage other farmers to get started, I want to explain five reasons why I started using conservation practices on my 110-acre corn and soybean farm.

1. The first reason I use conservation practices is to be the best steward I can be. One of my favorite free-time activities is kayaking on the local streams and rivers. It is sad and concerning to me how muddy-brown our streams and rivers are. I want to take responsibility for the farmland I am called to be a steward of and make sure I do my part to keep my soil on my farm. The legacy I want to leave for my community and my children is one of cleaner water and richer soils, allowing them to produce healthy reliable food and enjoy the environment for generations to come.

2. The second reason I use conservation practices is to increase soil organic matter and, in turn, increase water holding capacity. The art of farming can be boiled down to using soil and water to capture energy from the sun to produce food fuel and fiber. Considering the factors I can manage, I realize that the sun is going to come up every day and there is not a lot we can or need to do to manage that. My farm relies on rainfall for all of the water for the crops and while there is absolutely nothing I can do to change the rains, I have come to realize that I can improve the water-holding capacity of the soil by increasing organic matter and improve yields by holding more of the rains we do get on my farm for my crops to produce higher yields. A 1% increase in soil organic matter will increase the water-holding capacity in the top 6 inches of an acre by 27,000 gallons. This is roughly equivalent to the amount of water in a 1-inch rain.

3. The third reason I use conservation practices is to improve overall farm efficiency. To win in a commodity business a farmer must produce high yields at the lowest cost possible. Reducing tillage and, therefore, reducing trips across the field reduces the costs of growing a crop and improves efficiency. Two to three tillage passes are eliminated, resulting in less time, labor and fuel required to produce crops. Eliminating these tillage passes saves between $35 and $40 per acre.

4. The fourth reason I use conservation practices is to reduce the amount of equipment I need to purchase and maintain to operate my farm. I do not own a chisel plow, disk or field cultivator. I also do not need to own a high-horsepower tractor to pull these implements. Further savings are realized by not having to have a larger barn to store these extra pieces of equipment. I am able to farm using only one tractor on the entire operation. Not having to buy a high-horsepower tractor, a chisel plow, disk and field cultivator saves my farm tens of thousands of dollars of capital costs.

5. The fifth reason I use conservation practices is support from the NRCS. When deciding whether to transition to a no-till cover crop system, I reached out to the NRCS for ideas and support. The conservationists at the NRCS were able to share ideas and practices that had the highest likelihood of success in our area. I applied for and received three years of per-acre payments for no-till and cover crops through the EQIP program. These payments covered the cost of my planter pass and all costs of using a cover crop, including seed and planting. These payments reduced the risk of trying something new and gave me the confidence to get started.

I encourage anyone reading this to consider how to improve stewardship on their own farm in addition to how their management decisions impact the community and the legacy they want to leave for future generations. I also encourage you to reach out to your NRCS office and/or connect with other farmers in your area to discuss conservation practices.

Note: If you are interested in learning more about how NRCS can help you incorporate conservation practices on your land, contact Ethan White, Manager of Farmer Outreach and Engagement at Trust In Food™, a Farm Journal initiative, and he will direct you to the right resource in your state. If you would like to know more about the work Keith is doing with America’s Conservation Ag Movement, go to www.trustinfood.com/americas-conservation-ag-movement/; or, email us at conservationag@farmjournal.com.

Pollinator Habitat Fits Farmer’s Sandy Soils And Delivers A ROI