Earlier this week we paid another visit to this year’s Conservation Ag Operator Fellow, Ray McCormick in Vincennes, Ind., and one thing about Ray is that even when it’s the “off season,” he’s still thinking ahead for next season and doing what he can with cover crops to improve his corn crop for next year. Let’s take a look at one of his fields.

“Good morning, we’re here in southern Indiana and this is where my grandfather lived and had a farm and this is what we do for conservation. We have unharvested soybeans so there should be a covey of quail right there. So we leave some unharvested soybeans for the birds — there’s a few birds in there right now. And then we have a cover crop — and this is our annual ryegrass, balansa clover and crimson clover. And you can see we put this on with our platform and we’ve got a beautiful stand there. And then along the muddy run, which is not muddy anymore, is our native prairie grass plants so that’s our conservation buffer along the stream. Unharvested soybeans for the birds and then our cover crop taking care of the soil to grow us a big corn crop next year.”

Very cool to see all those birds and other wildlife out in his field, helping to improve the soil health. And be sure to catch the final installment of the Conservation Ag Operator Fellowship to learn how Ray’s harvest season wrapped up. You can find that article in the upcoming February issue of No-Till Farmer’s Conservation Tillage Guide.