Cereal rye can be used to suppress weeds. At this Brooklyn, Wisconsin, field day, Jose Nunes, a graduate student at weed scientist Rodrigo Werle’s UW-Madison research and extension lab, shared his findings about how much cereal rye biomass is needed for optimal weed suppression.

Jim Stute, an independent research agronomist and farmer member of the watershed protection committee of Racine County in Wisconsin, is helping to lead a long-term comparison of conventional tillage vs. no-till and cover crops. After just 1 year, the study still has a long way to go, but initially, Stute is seeing a 26.3 bushel per acre yield advantage with conventional. And most importantly, Stute says what he thinks they can do next year to shift those results.

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.

Brant Caley, sustainability operations manager with Farmers Business Network (FBN), explains the company’s sustainability offerings and does a walkthrough of their latest online tools