Jannie Keet shows off a mino early tillage radish that's as big as him! The South African farmer seeded it in the middle of spring with a no-till planter in the province of North West. It's part of his pollinator mix around the field, housing beneficial insects for pest control, Keet tells Cover Crop Strategies.

Annual forages or early summer cover crops can be a helpful alternative in late planting situations and often work well within the crop insurance system. There is no ‘hard and fast’ blanketed mix or species that can be recommended to all producers, as each grower is in a unique circumstance with a different production environment and goals, soil types and management techniques.

There were over 300 participants including beginning farmers and producers experienced with soil health practices. The conference hosted speakers from around Wisconsin and the Midwest to learn about subjects related to maintaining and improving soil health with cover crops.

Plant Growth Regulators, sometimes simply called PGRs, are human-applied chemicals that manipulate the hormone functions in plants. Since oats are more prone to lodging compared to other small grains, PGR application can help prevent yield loss by reducing plant height and improving plant standability and harvestability.

Although about 20% of Illinois cropping systems are planted to continuous corn, it’s nearly impossible to find fields planted this way for decades at a time. Yet long-term experiments like one at the University of Illinois, including over 40 years of continuous corn under different nitrogen fertilizer rates, provide incredible learning opportunities and soil management lessons.