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.
Charles Baron with Farmers Business Network told me all about the organization’s latest innovation, Norm the AI Agronomist. Norm is an online tool that uses artificial intelligence to scan the internet and agronomic research to answer questions about agronomy, farm management practices and more.
Roger Murdock, director of sales & marketing for Montag Manufacturing, took some time to show me one of the company’s newest cover crop innovations. Check out this clip of Murdock talking about the key features of Montag’s Cover Crop Plus and what makes it ideal for planting cover crops of all different species, especially those with smaller seeds.
Steve Groff, a world renowned cover crop innovator and coach, spoke at the 2023 National Cover Crop Summit about the current cover crop trends that he’s seen among today’s farmers.
Farmers usually plant cover crops after harvesting their main crop. This prevents erosion of the soil and nutrient leaching. The roots of these crops also stabilize the structure of the soil. It had been assumed that a mixture of different cover crops would result in particularly intensive rooting.
As the combines start rolling across the country farmers are focused on taking the crops off the land. However, it's a great time for farmers to also be thinking about planting cover crops to help them improve soil health.
A survey of farmers in four Northeast states, including New York, found that incentive payments encouraged participants to plant twice as many acres of cover crops as they did prior to receiving funds – a change that can both improve their farms and mitigate climate change.
The Conservation Technology Information Center is partnering with Farmers for Soil Health (FSH), a new program devoted to increasing the usage of cover crops on corn and soybean acres.
The National Strip-Tillage Conference returns August 8-9, 2024!Build and refine your strip-till system with dozens of new ideas and connections at the 11th Annual National Strip-Tillage Conference in Madison, Wis. Aug. 8-9, 2024. Experience an energizing 2-day agenda featuring inspiring general session speakers, expert-led Strip-Till Classrooms and collaborative Strip-Till Roundtables. Plus, Certified Crop Adviser credits will be offered.
Georgetown, Del., no-tiller Jay Baxter was planning on conducting a cover crop experiment with oats, but when Mother Nature got in the way, he quickly pivoted to another idea for a different type of cover crop experiment.