“That’s the reason I started no-tilling because I saw Steve Groff’s videos and I got bored of doing things the same old way.”

— Bryan Racine, No-Tiller, Cecil County, Md.  

In today’s episode of the podcast, come along on the road with me as I travel across parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania to visit 3 different farmers who are working with cover crops and no-till in unique ways. 

Our first stop in part 1 of this journey took us to Jim Hershey’s farm in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. 

This week, let’s hop in the car and head to Cecil County, Maryland to visit Bryan Racine, who is relatively new to the no-till and cover crop movement, but is learning and innovating at a rapid pace.    

Related Content

• [Podcast] On the Road with Cover Crops — Jim Hershey Part 1
• [Podcast] On the Road with Cover Crops — Jim Hershey Part 2
• East Coast Farm Trip Sparks New Cover Crop Podcast Series
• [Podcast] The Origin Story of Steve Groff’s Winter King Hairy Vetch Cover Crop

Full Transcript

Welcome to the Cover Crop Strategies Podcast. I'm Mackane Vogel, associate editor of Cover Crop Strategies. In today's episode, come along on the road with me as I travel across parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania to visit three different farmers who are working with cover crops and no-till in unique ways. Our first stop in part one of this journey took us to Jim Hershey's farm in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. This week, let's hop in the car again and head to Cecil County, Maryland to visit Bryan Racine, who is relatively new to the no-till and cover crop movement, but is learning and innovating at a rapid pace.

Good morning from Baltimore, Maryland. Once again, I am about to head out for my second farm visit of this East Coast farm trip, and this one should be a little bit different. We had a lot of fun with Jim Hershey last week, but today we're actually going to go out to Cecil County, Maryland and visit a farmer by the name of Bryan Racine. Now, Bryan is unique for a few different reasons. He actually reached out to me when he saw the blog that I wrote for Cover Crop Strategies, detailing my plans for this trip. And I kind of posted an open invite to farmers in the area if anyone wanted me to come by and check out what they were doing, and Bryan kind of answered the call. He reached out to me, told me he farms in Cecil County, he's a no-till farmer, uses cover crop, mixes on all his fields every year. He's also participating in a number of different Maryland cover crop programs, so I'm excited to ask about those and here's some more details there.

And he also mentioned that he used a roller crimper for the first time this spring as well as he typically says he uses a 14-way summer mix of covers with cows grazing it in the fall and the spring. So when I heard all that, that just sounds like a soil health picture perfect situation right there, so told him right away, "Yes, I will make some time to get out there." And it's convenient to me because that's about under an hour away from where I'm staying in Baltimore here. It's a little cooler out today than it was when I visited Jim Hershey last week. It was a Scorcher that day. Today, we're looking about mid-70s. Little overcast right now. Didn't see any rain in the forecast, so hopefully that all holds up and we have a good weather day for a good farm visit. With that being said, I'm running a couple minutes late from when I told Bryan I'd be there, so I'm going to shut my mouth and get on the road here and we'll hear from Bryan in just a minute.

He's the reason I started no-tilling, all that. I watched him on YouTube.

[inaudible 00:03:04]

Yeah.

Nice.

I got a little bored at work sometimes, you know?

Yeah.

You get on YouTube and next thing you know...

Right.

It's a older video of him talking about the reason the no-tills and stuff is [inaudible 00:03:14] I'm like, "I'm tired of doing the same things he's talking about."

So how long have you been farming in general? And then when did you switch to no-tilling, regenerative stuff?

We've been here since the '60s. Well, the family has, I guess. We were by where the college is.

Yep, Cecil College, yeah.

Yep. And then they eminent domained that and moved to 72 and whatever they did because they wanted to build a college in the Bay View and stuff. So then I guess we were renting this, so then we moved over here. Or the operation moved here, not necessarily us. Because there was a house down front, but it burned down. And then in '19, I guess you could say I took over doing stuff and '19 is when we started full no-till.

Yeah.

Before that, we did a year or two cover crops, but we would just work them in. And then since '19, I haven't touched anything since then.

And what are your crops since you grow?

Corn, beans and wheat.

Yep.

Yeah. Yep. Just those for now. Two years of corn, soybeans, and then wheat and then started back up.

Yep, okay. And so where are you at in that rotation now?

We split it up, so it's 60.

Oh, sure.

Half corn, 25% soybeans and 25% wheat, give or take.

And now you said you were part of a Maryland Cover Crop Program.

Yep.

What's that all about?

That's with... I think she's a doctor, Marie Hirsch down there.

Oh, yeah.

[inaudible 00:04:42]

Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about. Yeah.

So I signed up. The ag newsletter for the county was like, "Hey, there's this Cover Crop Program, but you could do a little bit more," or something, so I asked them about that. And the guy's like, "Well, you're already... You're past the two species mix." Because I do it, at the time, I think was just a 10-way mix after wheat. So then they got me in touch with her and her stuff and then that's when I became part of that group, I guess you could say. And then it's also through Million Acre Challenge. I was part of that. Maybe that was first. The group's kind of the way to go.

So I might have started with Million Acre Challenge and then got hooked up with that. But Sarah and her team after that, sometimes it seems like it's all one because they do a lot of the same, but that's been a couple years now, probably three or four years for that. But the Million Acre Challenge was the first thing I really, I guess, did. And it's probably May 2021 or so, I'd have to look. Because, again, it all kind of... Between the cover crop, the bonus cover crop, the Million Acre Challenge, you kind of get lost in the sauce. At least I do because I do too much.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? Just too many things sometimes. So yeah, it's been a couple years now, but the Million Acre Challenge will come and take samples. I take core samples instead of just soil samples for them and they give me stuff back and tell me what it's doing. But the summer Cover Crop Program or the bonus Cover Crop Program, so I'll do red clover in the wheat while the wheat's growing. That's in February/March.

So when they harvest the wheat, the red clover is already there, growing. So I do that. Just a regular variety for soybeans, nothing crazy there. But then after the wheat, I do the... Well, now I do a 14-way mix and had the neighbor's cows over and they grazed it off some, so we got... I think it was three months worth that they were out there grazing on it and stuff. So I'm planning that this year to see what fully graze, like half graze and then the field back here, they didn't really get into it all, just to see what all the difference is. Is it better? worse? Could I drop down on other stuff? Focus on that?

Yeah, the grazing is something that I feel like even some of the most experienced no-tillers and cover croppers, there's just... It seems to be that last piece of soil health that's a little evasive for some people.

Yeah.

Just a lot of it, I think, is logistics.

Yep, yeah.

If you don't have somebody or you don't have them yourself then...

Or like fencing.

Yes.

Water.

Yeah, so you use real fencing? I know it's the digital stuff now that people use and...

Right. So he just has just a little step in, sticks with holes in it for [inaudible 00:07:33] just a two wire. So even his fence is pretty temporary, but we just did step into the one hot wire because as long as they got something to eat, they'll pretty much stay there. They might not like it, but they stay there. And every now and then we'll get out and... But every winter and spring, there ain't nothing really there. They're not going to go eat the corn.

Right.

Yeah [inaudible 00:07:52]

So it's all cattle?

Yep. There was one... He had one pig and she was a big pig, but she's not super motivated to [inaudible 00:08:03] So I guess one day I was off, looking out the back window. No, the neighbor sent me a picture. He thought it was like a bear and it was in the hay field over here. I look out the window, I'm like, "Holy crap." Because she's way over here. We have about 1,500 foot that way where the cows are, and she's all the way over here heading right towards the hay in the woods. I'm like, "Shoot, I don't need her going in there. We'll never get her out." So we had to go mush her. I mean, she's bigger than that. She stands like your waist.

Wow.

She bites the cows and stuff, so we had to just mush her along all the way back. But every now and then they'll get out. But it's part of life, I guess.

What kind of pests do you guys deal with the most out here? Is it a lot of slug pressure or anything like that?

I mean, there's slug pressure. I mean, you can see it in some of the corn this year. Because this year, I planted green everything because I was trying that out and stuff.

Yeah. How'd that go?

I don't know because I don't do the greatest data keeping and I kind of just send it. I got a crimper last spring, but it was after everything was sprayed, so I didn't get the really fool with it then, and then this year...

You said you'd try it out this year, right?

Oh, I did it, yeah.

Oh, you did?

Yeah, you'll see when we go out, I did half of this field, half of this field. I let a whole field go that I should have rolled because it says you can roll it [inaudible 00:09:23] So slugs, yeah, I mean, there's some and definitely I've seen them, but I don't have areas getting lost per se, so it's like... One of the worst was ever in the corn over the cows were just... It looked like there wasn't soybeans and they grew up and they did just fine. Deer, I would say mostly just eat every year corn around every field, eat the beans and wheat, so I had to do bearded wheat to try to keep them off that, but yeah, you can only do so much.

I'm curious too, because obviously I'm on my way over here, you go right over the Susquehanna. Does that kind of play into the decision-making out here with farmers? Do you have to think about the water, like is water nearby? Is that something that the government's worry about?

I mean, I would say nothing more than just your regular nutrient management plan and all the rules and regulations and that,

Right.

I mean, I care about it. That's why I do what I do and whatnot. But other people, I think they just care about the dollar.

Are you kind of unique in that you're doing no-till and cover crop? Are neighbors around here who farm, are they doing it too, or you don't see much of it?

I mean, there's no-tillers, but they don't do it as far, I guess, to say as I do. They'll start no-till or they'll do a little bit of this and that. I mean, everybody's different, but nobody plants a cover crop after wheat. They plant beans and then they go right to just enough of a cover crop to get the cover crop payment. And then as soon as that day's up, it's gone. So they're doing stuff, but I let it go until I planted and after I planted, so I'd say I'm definitely not on that group per se, but I'm not in with the farming community because I don't have cows and I don't sell seed. And I'm a younger kid, so everybody's like, "Oh, you don't know what you're doing anyway," kind of thing.

Right.

But yeah, there's some no-tillers and stuff, but I think that's just because of the financial kickback on that, not because they care about... I mean, most of it's rented land and stuff, so they're just trying to get in and get out, you know?

So when you switched to it, what did you rely on for info on how to do it?

YouTube, Twitter, at the time, and then reading No Till mag. Just articles, save it here and there, watching things on YouTube and then just doing it and failing terribly. And then just a little bit for this year and then failing terribly again on certain things and aspects. Because I'm just trying to get it all figured out hot and heavy right off the bat instead of just tweaking a little bit. I was like, "I want to go to where I want to go to. I'm just going to do that, and then learn all the hardships the hard way because I don't know for sure." Instead of just a little bit here and a little bit there, I'm more like just send it because my kids are four and six, I only got 10 years and they're going to kick me out, so I got to figure it out. You know what I mean?

So then when you pass it to them, you can tell them how to do it.

Hopefully. Well, see, the problem is the neighbor, he's organic, so he tills everything. Plows down the ground, they love it more because it's more tractor time, he's got more stuff and all this kind of stuff. Ah, kids. Yeah, but that's how I farm. We were full tillage and stuff too before I took over and changed it. So I'm not saying it's right or wrong, it's just that's your choice. They could do it, but I feel like that's what I like to do and see, so hopefully they go down that path.

As far as equipment that you run on the farm here, what do you use and what would you say is your MVP piece of equipment? What's something you couldn't live without that you guys use here a lot?

I mean, it would probably have to be the planter just because I put the most money into it to get it to do what it does. It's just the John Deere 7000 Conservation from back in the day, a couple of decades ago. But I redid the rail units maybe five years ago, and then last two years ago I put liquid on it and road cleaners. So I'm just trying to work on getting those set. And it's still got spring down pressure. And all mechanical, no, those was not even a seed monitor or nothing, just the chain and tire.

Right.

So I would say that that's the most important because I used to do the drill for soybeans. I'm planting through all this green stuff, I didn't want all those [inaudible 00:13:53], so I got brush meters this year and put the beans in with the road cleaners and move things out of the way and helped close it up a little better. So we tried that new for this year. But yeah, I mean, I would guess you'd have to say the corn plant just because it does corn and beans for me, which is three quarters of what I grow in a year, as long as it works. But I mean, I would love to say I could get a newer one that could do more for me, but I don't have the tractor technology and all that stuff to do it. I have an open station tractor that just does what I need to do, so it's good enough to go.

Right.

Yeah. Keep the bottom line low.

Yeah.

Yeah, hopefully. Yep.

So what other kind of experiments are you working on right now for this year? Anything you're trying out to do for the first time?

Well, other than using the roller crimper, planting green on all of it. So where the cows were for the most of the time, they were there seven or eight weeks where the summer cover crop was last year, they grazed some of the fall and then again in the spring, so I planted corn into that. Then I did no-nitrogen starter, which is... I mean, I still put three tons of chicken litter on it, so there's still nitrogen there, but made without the starter just to see if is there a difference and is it just looks? Does it relate to the yield monitor?

The field next to it was, they had cows in it, they just weren't as heavy because they had to walk through this one field to get to that one, so they hit this one harder for sure. And this one had a lot of [inaudible 00:15:33] on it, so there's less cow, but there's still cow. And like I said, that piece back here didn't have hardly anything in it for cow, so does it make a difference? So I had them graze the field over here. We had them graze maybe the back third. There at the end before we started getting close to plant, decided to see if they would knock it down some. Like, let them eat some, does it make a difference planting? Does it make a difference in yield? Do I get less residual matter on top? So just trying to see what that would do. It's a nice clear curve because we made the fence kind of bend so you could see not just...

It should be a little bit more easier to see that in the field than just straight line kind of thing. So we tried that. And sometimes too many things I've tried, but that's what we went for it to see if that makes a difference because I would like to, like I said, get cows or have cows and have them graze in the cover crops, because that I think is the key to all of it. But like I said, the logistics and the place to have them all year, the price of them now. Working two other jobs, it's a little hard to be here for the cows more. But if you could figure it out, if you at least keep them where they're supposed to be. But yeah, that virtual fencing isn't cheap at all, especially when you're a smaller budget. But it saves me a headache and time.

Yeah. If the ROI is there then it could be worth it, right?

Yeah, at least [inaudible 00:17:06] with when you're getting one. Find the cow that's the pain in the butt the most and then hook it up to that one.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? Or hopefully not that one and maybe the other ones will stay where we're supposed to.

What's the climate out here typically? Is it you guys used to a lot of rain or you dealt with a lot of dry conditions in the past? What's typical for you guys?

So usually we get 46 or so inches of rain, according to the Baltimore almanac or whatever. So it's pretty much almost an inch a week average.

Okay.

The last two years have been pretty dry. Last year was, I think, the driest for the year, but two years ago was driest for the growing season. There's a lady at Maryland, Kimba, I think through one of the groups she reached out about the climate changing and all this, so I started looking up because I have climate data, FieldView.

Correct.

So I looked up when it rained for, I think it was back to '16 or something. '15 or '16, I think I started using it. When it rained for the year, big rains over two inches, rains during the growing season and kind of tracked all that. '12, I think, was just the worst because... I think 2012 was the worst year, I think, on record. But I think last year was the second-worst overall, but we had more during the growing season. But two years ago, we had less rain during growing season. It was dry. But it's been trending dry because I planted corn two years ago in June, third week, second week of June because it just didn't rain. Everybody was getting in there early and I was like, "I'm patient. Trying to be patient here." And then it was like five weeks late, so we didn't plant things until super late, so I didn't get cover crops in.

Right.

But yeah, I mean, it's trending dry, but this year it's almost, I would say, trending wetter now, but you never know.

Did you guys get rain yesterday?

Just a sprinkle, nothing. Nothing of value. But last week we had three and a half.

Yeah.

Yeah. But my driveway didn't wash out. I don't have ponding like I used to. The road's not flattened out like it used to, stuff like that, so I know what I'm doing's working. And it's clearer. When it does run down the driveway, it's clearer. Or run off and stuff, the ponds are lot cleaner. But yeah, I would say it's getting hotter. I mean, it wasn't super hot last year, but it just stayed the 85/90 and it was just like weeks. I think we went seven weeks without rain in August/September when everything needs it.

Yeah, that's a tough time.

It was. But the combine, we got 186 [inaudible 00:19:47] this field and it was averaging 180s and that's above our farm average for sure, so is it just a fluke? Is it because of [inaudible 00:19:56]? What was it? It's hard to tell what you're doing that helps it, but it's better than we used to be.

What's been the most difficult part of the whole no-till thing for you? And then what would you say is the most rewarding part of it?

The hardest part of no-till is just not a lot of people, I feel like, do it the way we do it per se, so I don't have anybody to ask to get help from per se. And if I do, like the groups I'm in, they're all southern, so they're sand and this and that, they're just growing like rye.

Yeah, right, so it's not just even [inaudible 00:20:29], yeah.

I've got rye with clovers and turnips and stuff in a 14-way mix I'm planting in, and so it's just all of that, just having to figure it out on your own. I had to take off work to do it, so I don't have a whole lot of time to make things perfect or wait for that perfect day per se to plant, so I just got to send it when I can send it and then I learn on the fly. I got to adjust in the field a little more. And then sometimes it just is what it is. You still got to get it planted or done.

Sure.

So I would say that's probably the hardest part of just having to be the guy that does it. I don't have anybody per se to help. And what was the second part?

What's the most rewarding part? What keeps you going?

Just seeing the bugs, the birds, the bees. Seeing the ground suck the water up, the worm castings. When I take a soil sample, there's worms in almost all of them. Just that kind of... The mother nature aspect of it and how I definitely feel like it's benefited than just spraying everything and working everything up the dirt. So the issue I got, the Merlin app, I don't know if you ever heard of that app.

Think so.

I don't know. I'm not a bird guy, but I became kind of like a bird guy. So I was at a bonus cover crop group meeting. It's from Cornell University, so it's just Merlin. So you'll put your location on and you hit sound ID and it will list it. So it'll tell you what bird you hear.

Oh, cool.

Like, "Hey, there's a swallow." It'll tell you. So if you go to... Here's some of the recordings I have. This is just a three-minute recording the other morning at 8 AM. I got all those...

Oh, wow.

... birds, right?

That's cool.

So I think the most I have was like 20-something birds.

Wow.

So this is over 15 minute [inaudible 00:22:20] I got a horned lark. I don't know what that dude is, but he ain't from around here, right?

Right.

And the goldfinch is cool. There was another one, the gray gnatcatcher. So say we just get this bird, you go down to learn more, it'll tell you here where it lives, where it migrates, where it breeds and not breeding.

That is cool.

And you can kind of see if it's supposed to be around here. But I have 67 birds, I think, is my life list. 68 kind of bird here.

Wow, that's pretty cool.

I feel like that's a little bit more than what we had.

Yeah, right.

And I got three or four ground birds, some sandpipers, the killdeer, of course. So I feel like that is a way to track. And that's only me listening here at the house. I'm not going out in the woods or out in the field.

Yeah, that's really cool.

So I feel like that if they're coming here then there's something here. I've got a lot more pollinator stuff with the cover crop. I think that's the greatest thing. I would just do that all year if I didn't have to make money, you know what I mean?

Well, you're obviously a busy guy, but what do you do for fun when you get some time off?

I don't, I just cut grass and that's enough. At my regular job and here, just keeping things moving, keeping track of the two kids and everything from chickens, growing stuff from other people. Just that, just all the time something. Just keeping the grass mowed. We got borders. Keeping enough hay for the horses, helping the neighbor bale her hay. It's just always enough to keep you going.

Yeah.

I mean, I think that's fun because it's just you're making the place a little better or you're doing something for somebody else. I don't need to do anything to have fun per se. That's just not in my blood now. I was eight years old, farming and cutting grass all summer, so that's what life is. That is my fun, I guess, you could say.

Yeah. What's your earliest memory of agriculture?

The earliest memory of agriculture? I think the first time I drove our Ford. We're at our old house and we were just bush hogging. Dad was teaching me how to use the clutch. And I remember at the field off of the main road here, driving our 1066 with our crustbuster disc behind it. He just let me drive the straight parts, so tillage was the first memory. And then we had an Allis Chalmers 200 and I would get out of school, middle school, sick and he'd let me go roll beans or work around or whatever to finish it up. And the dust when you go south or east... You could barely even see your feet in front of you, but you just kept going straight. Like that kind of stuff. And then now we don't even have dirt on the corn planter when we're done planting.

That's it for this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies Podcast. Stay tuned for next week where we'll hear more from Bryan Racine and we'll head out into the field. Well, from our entire staff here at Cover Crop Strategies, I'm Mackane Vogel. Thanks for listening and have a great day.