Crop rotation - Articles

Grass Cover Crops Are the Most Common Cover Crops Used Before Planting

August 9, 2021 | Posted in Seeding Practices

Source: USDA ERS

Cover crops—which are typically added to a crop rotation in between two commodity or forage crops—provide living, seasonal soil cover with a variety of on-farm benefits, such as increased soil moisture capacity, improved nutrient cycling, and weed suppression. Cover crops can also provide public benefits by reducing sediment loss, nutrient runoff, and leaching; reducing flooding; and storing carbon in the soil. Read more in this article from USDA Economic Research Service.

[Podcast] Cover Crops After Silage Prevent Erosion

This week’s podcast, sponsored by GS3 Quality Seed, features Amanda Kautz, district conservationist with NRCS. Kautz will discuss why silage is a good opportunity for growers to incorporate covers, how growers ensure good cover crop growth for silage, soil health benefits offered by covers after they’ve been harvested as silage, and more.

August 5, 2021 | Posted in Soil Health

This week’s podcast, sponsored by GS3 Quality Seed, features Amanda Kautz, district conservationist with NRCS. Kautz will discuss why silage is a good opportunity for growers to incorporate covers, how growers ensure good cover crop growth for silage, soil health benefits offered by covers after they’ve been harvested as silage, and more.

Legume Cover Crops Means Less Fertilizer Needed

July 9, 2021 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: Altoona Mirror

For corn, using dairy manure and legume cover crops in crop rotations can reduce the need for inorganic nitrogen fertilizer and protect water quality, but these practices also can contribute to emissions of nitrous oxide — a potent greenhouse gas. Read more in this story from the Altoona Mirror (Altoona, PA).

[Video] Meet Multiple Goals with Cover Crop Mixes

April 21, 2021 | Posted in Seeding Practices

In this video from Penn State University, find out what cover crop species make an effective mixture, why adding more cover crop species to a mixture means more functionality, challenges to using cover crop mixtures, and more.

[Podcast] Controlling Waterhemp with Cover Crops

This week’s podcast, sponsored by Bio Till Cover Crops, features Meghan Anderson, Field Agronomist with Iowa State University Extension. Anderson will discuss why waterhemp has become so difficult to control in recent years, how growers can identify waterhemp, how cover crops can be leveraged against waterhemp, and more.

April 13, 2021 | Posted in Seeding Practices

This week’s podcast, sponsored by Bio Till Cover Crops, features Meghan Anderson, Field Agronomist with Iowa State University Extension. Anderson will discuss why waterhemp has become so difficult to control in recent years, how growers can identify waterhemp, how cover crops can be leveraged against waterhemp, and more.

Ideal Cover Crop Species for Texas

April 12, 2021 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: Southern SARE

Under the right conditions, cover crops are a tool for improvement. After harvesting a crop like cotton or grain sorghum, a cover crop rotation can increase soil organic matter, recycle nutrients, prevent erosion and suppress weeds. Read more in this article from Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE).

[Video] Soil Health & Profitability from Covers

February 15, 2021 | Posted in Soil Health

Laura Van Erd from the University of Guelph discusses insights from her research on an 8 year cover crop rotation, including ways to incentivize cover crop adoption, how using cover crops resulted in higher soil carbon levels, which cover crop species resulted in lower soil carbon levels, and more.

Adding Winter Wheat to a Crop Rotation

October 9, 2020 | Posted in Seeding Practices

Source: University of Nebraska Extension

As many farmers are getting ready to begin harvest, farmers who grow winter wheat are preparing to plant. There are many reasons why growers have been planting winter wheat in eastern Nebraska. Read more in this article from University of Nebraska Extension.

[Podcast] Enhancing the Value of Covers with Livestock

Jon Stevens, a grower from Rock Creek, Minn., is looking to capture the value of cover crops by grazing cattle on a 30-acre paddock seeded with grasses and cereals.

October 1, 2020 | Posted in Grazing

Jon Stevens, a grower from Rock Creek, Minn., is looking to capture the value of cover crops by grazing cattle on a 30-acre paddock seeded with grasses and cereals. Find out how he intends to try to rotate in corn within 3 years to capture in-field nitrogen.

Iowa Farmer Utilizes Cover Crops to Prevent Soil Erosion

September 14, 2020 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: Waukon Standard

An Iowa farmer is breaking up his rotation, reducing erosion, and providing additional forage benefits for his cattle by planting cover crops. Erik Helgerson, who farms near Lansing, Iowa, tried a unique sequence of cover crops this year on 11 acres near his home. Read more in this article from the Waukon Standard (Waukon, Iowa).