- Establishing a winter rye cover crop between corn-soybean rotations in tile-drained fields (meaning, those using a system of underground drainage pipes to remove excess water) reduced nitrate levels in drainage water by more than 45 percent compared to rye-free fields—or about 21 and 44 kilograms per hectare, respectively.
- Across the 63-total million hectares (approximately 156 million acres) of North Central farmland that the model’s simulations encompassed, use of a winter rye cover crops on tile-drained fields translated to a 27 percent reduction in nitrate loads entering the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River basin.
Cover Crop Connection: Cover Crops Pay Off After Heavy Rains
Today we’re talking with Jeff Schluckbier, who grows corn, sugar beets and wheat in Tuscola County, Mich. Jeff uses sunflowers, radish, clover, oats, cereal rye and Austrian winter peas. He says cover crops are paying off big time in his 7,500-acre operation, especially during heavy rainfall events.
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