I’ve got a question for growers out there who are planting cover crops. I first thought about this when I was covering No-Till Farmer’s 2024 Conservation Ag Operator Fellowship. The project consisted of a few visits to no-tiller Ray McCormick’s farm in Vincennes, Ind. where he would update me on his latest farm strategies, challenges and other notable occurrences.

On this particular visit, McCormick explained to me how he had come up with an idea to improve efficiency by seeding cover crops from his combine. McCormick told me he first got the idea when he heard Marion Calmer speaking at the
National No-Tillage Conference one year. He had been trying to think of a way to do everything in one pass and when Calmer spoke, something clicked for McCormick.

To see McCormick explain this innovative cover crop seeding method, check out this video .

This brings me to my question: Is this method something that can work across the majority of farms in North America? I’ve shared McCormick’s idea with a number of different farmers over the last several months and received mixed responses. Some say “That’ll never work on my farm,” while others praise McCormick’s idea.

One grower commented on our video of McCormick explaining his method to say “That is brilliant! Less passes, less compaction, lower fuel consumption. What's not to like?”

Then, just a couple weeks ago, I stumbled across an article from Iowa Soybean Association describing a new cover crop innovation that is set to “revolutionize cover crop seeding.” The article describes a new tool from Red Barn Solutions called the Harvest Seeder — a combine-attached air seeder.

Naturally, I sent the article to McCormick, who praised the idea and even argued that organizations like the USDA should attempt to fund the development of more seeders on combines rather than paying for seeds.

With all that being said, I want to hear from more farmers across all regions about why this method would or would not work on your farm. Sound off cover croppers — what’s the verdict?

Related Content:

2024 Conservation Ag Operator Fellowship Program: Ray McCormick,

[Video] No-Till Innovator Seeds Cover Crops from the Combine,

Dialing Back Cover Crop Seeding Rate for Higher Efficiency