Double crop sunflowers planted with companion crops have a triple payoff for Jewell, Kan., no-tillers Robin and Kelly Griffeth.

With 2 years of companion cropping under their belts, the Griffeths are harvesting a more profitable sunflower crop, improving their soil and benefitting the subsequent crop in the rotation.

The north-central Kansas farmers follow their hard red winter wheat crop with sunflowers intermixed with as many as nine different companion species, each selected for specific attributes.

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