Picture3.jpg

INTERSEEDED STRIPS. Reinbeck, Iowa, strip-tiller Jack Boyer Boyer hosts many cover crop research projects, concentrating on economic effects of nutrient scavenging, practical ways to interseed covers in corn, and lately planting green in terminated ryegrass.

Fulfilling a Soil Health Promise with Strategic Strip-Till, Cover Cropping

By Dan Crummett
Maintaining an Iowa Century Farm while fulfilling the family goal of leaving the land in better condition than it was received, has led Jack Boyer a long way from the conventional farming his wife’s grandfather used when he settled the farm.

  • Tips for Developing a Cover Crop Grazing Lease

    As ranchers continue with the struggle to find more grazing land to expand their livestock operations, more are looking into growing cover crops for grazing or renting cover crop land from neighboring farmers. Greg Rasmussen started planting cover crops on a piece of farm ground north of Boelus, Neb., several years ago, in an effort to stop soil erosion and improve soil health. Read more in this article from The Fence Post.

  • University of Georgia Researching Cover Crops

    University of Georgia researchers are working on natural solutions to weed problems in row crops as government regulations of chemical herbicides grow stricter. Earlier in June, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals pulled registrations for the use of all dicamba products for row-crop production. Read more in this article from Southeast AgNet.

  • USDA Accepting Applications to Help Cover Organic Certification Costs

    USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced that organic producers and handlers can apply for federal funds to assist with the cost of receiving and maintaining organic certification through the Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP). Applications for eligible certification expenses paid between Oct. 1, 2019, and Sept. 30, 2020, are due Oct. 31, 2020.
More Editors' Picks

This month's digital sponsors:

I & J Mfg. Gandy Unverferth Smith Seed Indigo Ag Saddle Butte Advanced Eco Agriculture

Seeding Practices

  • "Greedy Beans" Just Not Worth It

    What are “greedy beans,” you ask? That’s simply what some are calling double-cropped soybeans. Find out why the author no longer plants them in this article from Lancaster Farming.

  • Consider Cover Crops for Prevent Plant Acres

    Planting cover crops is an option to consider in managing your prevented plant acres, says Ron Haugen, North Dakota State University Extension farm management specialist. Rules for planting cover crops on prevented plant acres must be followed. Read more in this article from North Dakota State University.
See More

Grazing

  • [Video] Setting Up for Cover Crop Success

    In this webinar, learn more about how to make a plan for your cover crops, the pros and cons of various cover crop seeding methods, how to select a cover crop seed species, and more.

  • Tips for Developing a Cover Crop Grazing Lease

    As ranchers continue with the struggle to find more grazing land to expand their livestock operations, more are looking into growing cover crops for grazing or renting cover crop land from neighboring farmers. Greg Rasmussen started planting cover crops on a piece of farm ground north of Boelus, Neb., several years ago, in an effort to stop soil erosion and improve soil health. Read more in this article from The Fence Post.

  • Improving Profitability by Interseeding Wide-Row Corn with Cover Crops

    Wide-spaced corn rows paired with cover crops for foraging is being tested across the country to see if a wider solar corridor can lead to bottom line benefits. Preliminary results from the University of Minnesota are showing improved economic and ecological outcomes for four Minnesota farmers.
See More

Sign up for free

Featured Video

Can Cover Crops Help Farmers Deal with Extreme Weather

Chris Kucharik, Professor of Agronomy & Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin, discusses what weather trends he's seeing and how they could impact farmers, what additional rainfall levels will mean for growers, and how cover crops can play a role.
See More

Soil Health

See More
Tobin1

  • Tillage Affects Soil Aggregate Stability

    Some farmers claim that you need to “open up and fluff up the soil with tillage” so it can take in moisture and that no-till just makes the ground hard making it difficult for water to get through. Tradition may make you think that is the case. Read more in this article from the Dodge City Daily Globe (Dodge City, KS).

  • Adding Hay to Your Crop Rotation

    The soil health benefits of having a perennial forage in the crop rotation are better than any cover crop, because its living roots are in the soil for much longer. Hay prices have been strong over the last couple of years, and there is always a market for high-quality hay. Read more in this article from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs.

  • Soil Changes When Cover Crops are Grown

    Florida vegetable farmers who grow cover crops as a green manure between their cash crops anecdotally tout the health benefits, but a two-year study by University of Florida has provided the research to back it up. In a Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SSARE) On-Farm Research Grant, University of Florida soil health expert Jehangir (Jango) Bhadha shadowed the cover crop practices of eight farmers across the state to measure the benefits of using cover crops (mainly cow pea and sunn hemp) as a soil amendment and nutrient source for subsequent cash crops.

  • Carbon Farming Growing in Interest

    Mitchell Hora walks to a field on his family’s southeast Iowa farm, where 5-inch-high soybeans grow in alternating rows with 4-foot-tall cereal rye. The 25-year-old admits that combining the two crops would make most farmers freak out. Read more in this article from The Hawk Eye (Burlington, IA).

Podcasts

See More

Featured Products

See More

Register

Ccs membership signup image

Get all things Cover Crop all the time!

Start Free Membership