Cover crops - Articles

Cover Crop Use Has Remained Steady Since 2016, Ag Retailer Study Finds

By Sarah Hill posted on July 21, 2020

Growers tend to “buy local” more than the average consumer, in my experience. This is not a bad thing. However, patronizing the local ag retailer can play a role in what services a grower can utilize, including cover crops.

New Factors Influence Cover Crop Choices

July 20, 2020 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: Country Guide

In the midst of a renaissance in soil health, researchers, agronomists and extension personnel have been pushing the message that everything a grower does in a field is connected to everything else. Fertility is linked to planting depth, just as mycorrhizal fungi are connected to weed management. Read more in this article from Country Guide.

Time to Start Thinking About Cover Crops

July 17, 2020 | Posted in Seeding Practices

Source: Aberdeen News

Producers are beginning to harvest small grains; these crops provide an excellent window for adding a cover crop into your rotation. Whether you grow a small grain or would like to fit a cover crop into your row crop rotation, there are many considerations to make. Read more in this article from the Aberdeen News (Aberdeen, SD).

Cover Crops Can Help Control Nitrogen Loss

July 17, 2020 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: AgriNews

Lessons learned from field scale cover crop trials have transitioned to a watershed scale and continue to show the system’s benefits in controlling nitrogen loss. Shalamar Armstrong, Purdue University assistant professor of soil conservation and management in the Department of Agronomy, is a co-investigator with Illinois State University faculty in the Lake Bloomington watershed trials. Read more in this article from AgriNews.

Optimizing Corn Yields After Cereal Rye

July 17, 2020 | Posted in Seeding Practices, Soil Health

Alison Robertson, Professor and Extension Field Crops Pathologist with Iowa State University discusses why cereal rye is a vector for diseases in corn, why timing of planting corn after cereal rye is very important, how pythium impacts corn yields, and more.

[Podcast] Choose Cover Crop Goals First

Chris Reynolds, certified crop advisor and resource conservationist from Illinois discusses why species choice is important when analyzing covers, how to determine planting dates for cover crops, when growers should start thinking about covers in the season, and more.

July 16, 2020 | Posted in Grazing

Chris Reynolds, certified crop advisor and resource conservationist from Illinois discusses why species choice is important when analyzing covers, how to determine planting dates for cover crops, when growers should start thinking about covers in the season, and more.

More Land Required to Produce Cover Crop Seed

July 15, 2020 | Posted in Economics

Source: Seed World

The growth in cover cropping may soon hit a ceiling: planting millions of acres of cover crops will require huge extensions of land to produce cover crop seed. Between 3 and 6% of the 92 million acres of cropping land currently used for corn in the U.S. may be required to produce cover crop seed for that land area. Read more in this article from Seed World.

No-Till on the Plains Collaborating with Country Crock on Cover Crops

July 13, 2020 | Posted in Soil Health

Country Crock, an Upfield brand, and No-till on the Plains, an agriculture educational non-profit, have partnered on a three-year program to support farmers with soil health education and cost-share to plant cover crops to improve soil health on fields.

Soil Health Practices Helping Chesapeake Bay Farmers

July 10, 2020 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: Chesapeake Bay Journal

As he has dozens of times since stumbling into the benefits of cover cropping and no-till farming nearly 50 years ago, Pennsylvania farmer Leroy Bupp set up his props for a talk on soil health at a large Chesapeake Bay conference. There were goofy moments, like calling out volunteers from the audience to replicate how worms breed. Read more in this article from the Chesapeake Bay Journal (Seven Valleys, PA).

South Dakota Farmers Trying Soil Health Practices

July 10, 2020 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: Aberdeen News

David Kruger and Todd Boesen don’t know each other. But these two South Dakota farmers share a desire to test out practices on their farms. Read more in this article from the Aberdeen News (Aberdeen, SD).