Dairy farmer Derek Van De Hey, De Pere, WI, discusses how he implements cover crops and no-till on their 2,500 acres. Van De Hey shares how these practices have helped improve soil health and reduce input costs.

According to a September survey from Purdue University, nearly 4 out of 10 corn/soybean producers in the survey said they intend to plant at least some cover crops in fall 2020.

As we approach the fall cover crop planting season, the industry is starting to see shortages of a few different crops like radishes, hairy vetch and annual clovers due to the record amount of acreage that was planted last year as part of USDA’s prevent plant program. What we typically see in shortage situations is that seed will still be available to producers – however, it may be bottom of the bin in terms of quality and can carry a lot of risks. Read more in this article from Go Seed.

This podcast, sponsored by Yetter Equipment, features an interview with Jeff Vetsch, a researcher at the University of Minnesota Southern Research & Outreach Center in Waseca, Minn., and Anna Cates, Minnesota State Soil Health Specialist.

With harvest season upon us, that means it’s also time for another major undertaking — planting covers after harvest. A recent cover crop survey by the Soil Health Partnership found that more than half of farmers planted cover crops between the middle of September and the beginning of November.

Using spring seeded cover crops in sugar beets is a familiar practice for farmers, but many are asking about other ways to use cover crops in their system to accomplish different goals other than protecting sugar beet seedlings. Some are flying on a cover crop like cereal rye or barley prior to topping the beets, seeding smaller pre-harvest areas to help reduce erosion or seeding cereal rye post-harvest if time allows. Read more in this article from AgWeek.

With growing interest in cover crops, it is important to understand how cover crops might impact soil fertility for the following cash crop. Nitrogen (N) provided by cover crop biomass may be used in the short-term by the following crop, and in the long-term through improving soil N content and reducing fertilizer input costs. Read more in this article from University of Nebraska Extension.

In this video from University of Arkansas Extension, grower Adam Chappell, Cotton Plant, AR, who has been using cover crops for 11 years, talks about using covers to control Palmer amaranth, why he covers every acre of his farm with cover crops, his experiences using cereal rye, and more.

Jon Stevens, a grower from Rock Creek, Minn., is looking to capture the value of cover crops by grazing cattle on a 30-acre paddock seeded with grasses and cereals. Find out how he intends to try to rotate in corn within 3 years to capture in-field nitrogen.

Known for their ability to produce nitrogen, legumes actually partner with rhizobium bacteria to create or fix nitrogen through specialized organs in their roots called nodules. This unique relationship adds nitrogen back to the soil so it can be used as fertilizer by future crops. Read more in this article from the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) program.