Cover Crop Strategies editors encounter a variety of articles, social media posts, podcasts and videos that offer a unique look at various aspects of our great agricultural industry. Here is our favorite content from the past week:

The Soil is Living!

After seeing a slide about what percent of the plant comes from biology in the ground compared to what farmers apply, this second-generation farmer shares his thoughts. He shares that up to 80% of the plant is created from the biology already in the soil!


Adding Winter Lentils to Your Toolbox

Winter lentils are cool-season legumes that offer several benefits. Lentils are relatively low-growing and modest in their growth, so it's recommended to grow them as a companion crop or as part of a mix. They consistently overwinter in Zone 5B, where winter temperatures can drop below -25 degrees Fahrenheit. Winter lentils can be added with winter cereals and other winter legumes to have a more diverse overwintering cover crop.

Busting Five Cover Crop Myths

“Cover crops won't work on my farm.” Kelly Garrett has heard that one plenty of times. After more than a decade of growing cover crops, he knows there's usually more to the story. In this episode of Cover Crop Conversations, Kelly joins TJ Kartes of Bio-Till in a newly seeded field to tackle five of the biggest myths farmers have about cover crops. Do they steal moisture? Hurt corn and soybean yields? Create a spring termination nightmare? And how do you justify the expense on rented ground? From managing water to dealing with stubborn cereal rye, Kelly and TJ have some real-world experience to share. Turns out, some of those coffee shop arguments might not hold up quite like you'd think.

Seeding Cover Crops and Harvesting -- All in One Pass

What if you could plant cover crops while harvesting corn, eliminating the need for an additional trip across the field? In Elwood, Indiana, Williams Family Farms put the Fennig Equipment Corn Head Seeder to work. This system allows farmers to harvest corn and seed cover crops simultaneously, saving valuable time, reducing field passes and getting cover crop seed established earlier in the fall. They also take a look at a field seeded roughly two weeks earlier at 25 pounds per acre. With only about 1/4 inch of rainfall, the cover crops are already emerging through the corn residue, showing the potential of this system for establishing cover crops during harvest.

Soybean Harvest and a Wheat Cover Crop

Farmer Woody is on day three of soybean harvest. Running the combine through the Merschman 39 variety (his favorite) on the “George’s” farm, he has been pleased with yields ranging from 50-65 bushels per acre. Woody also shares that this is their first year spreading wheat as a cover crop with the Case Trident. The video wraps with a big "thank you" for hitting 10,000 subscribers and some drone footage of the operation.

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