Cover Crop Connection

Hitting the Road — Editors Prepare for Upcoming Farm Visits

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 29 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400

As the weather heats up and farmers everywhere get busier, the editorial team and I are getting plans squared away to hit the road and travel to several farms and field days in the coming months.

Tony Peirick Shares his 2026 Planting Season Update

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 15 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400

This week I’ve got another update from this year’s Conservation ag Operator Fellow — Wisconsin no-tiller Tony Peirick. Let’s take a listen as he gives us his official 2026 planting season update.

Tony Peirick Highlights Importance of Farmer-Led Learning

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 08:00:00 -0400

If you haven’t had a chance to dive into this year’s Conservation ag Operator Fellowship series with Wisconsin no-tiller Tony Peirick, now is the time. He and many other growers around the country are making plans to get into the field and plant in the coming weeks.

Educating Landowners About Benefits of Cover Crops, No-Till

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 08:00:00 -0400

Last week I visited with Conservation Ag Foundation director and No-Till Innovator alum Mike Starkey on his farm in Brownsburg, Ind. For the second straight year, Starkey was hosting an event where he invited landowners from all over the state to come and learn about no-till and cover crops.

Tony Peirick — Digging in to Cover Crops

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 08:00:00 -0400

This year’s No-Till Farmer Conservation Ag Operator Fellow is Watertown, Wis. no-tiller Tony Peirick. Tony has been using cover crops and practicing no-till on his farm for decades. Let’s watch as Tony grabs a shovel from his truck and digs into a field of cover crops to check out the soil structure.

Practical Insights from the Cover Crop Variety Improvement & Seed Production Program

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 07:00:00 -0500

In this video, Etienne Sutton, agroecologist for University of Missouri's Center for Regenerative Agriculture shares a preview of what she will talk about during her upcoming presentation at the 2026 National Cover Crop Summit.

The 7 'Bio-Graces' for Farmers

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0500

In this video, Keith Berns gives a preview of his upcoming National Cover Crop Summit presentation where he will talk about what he likes to call the 7 "Bio-Graces" for farmers.

Soil Health Institute — Drought Resilience Calculator & Other New Tools

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0500

A few weeks ago at the National No-Tillage Conference in St. Louis, I sat down with Wayne Honeycutt, founding president and CEO of the Soil Health Institute, as well as Shannon Moeller and Odiney Alvarez-Campos, two soil health educators with the Soil Health Institute.

Rick Matt Shares Preview of Upcoming National Cover Crop Summit Presentation

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 07:00:00 -0500

Iowa no-tiller Rick Matt will be presenting at this year's National Cover Crop Summit. In this video, he gives a short preview of what audience members can learn from his session titled "Covers & Critters: Integrating Livestock on Summer Annuals."

No-Tiller with Perfect NNTC Attendance Shares Cover Crop Lessons Learned

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 07:00:00 -0500

You can count on one hand the number of people who have attended each and every single one of our now 34 National No-Tillage Conferences. Cole Camp, Mo., no-tiller Bryan Von Holten is one of them and I had a chance to catch up with him in between sessions last week in St. Louis.

Cover Crop Education at National No-Tillage Conference

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 07:00:00 -0500

Cover crops are sure to be a hot topic at this year’s National No-Tillage Conference. So here’s Minnesota no-tiller and cover cropper Tom Cotter to give a brief preview about his presentation at the conference, plus why he finds the event so valuable as an attendee.

A Father-Son Cover Crop Business

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 07:00:00 -0500

Many of you are familiar with Iowa no-tiller and Executive Director of the Conservation Technology Information Center, Ryan Heiniger. Recently I had a chance to chat with Ryan and his son Matt - who is currently a senior in high school — about the new cover crop business they started this summer called Clear Water Cover Crops.

AGRITECHNICA No-Till Tech Spotlight: Weed-It

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 07:00:00 -0500

Mackane Vogel here in Hanover, Germany at Agritechnica, where there is lots of ag technology and innovation on display. Why don't we send it off to the Cover Crop Connection segment right now and see what cover crop technology we have going on here in Germany?

Cover Crops & Autonomy — Don’t Lose the Plot

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 07:00:00 -0500

Autonomy is always one of the biggest topics talked about here at FIRA USA. Earlier there was a panel where the topic of cover crops came up in terms of autonomy and let’s take a listen on why it might be important to just pay a little more attention to cover crops when you’re dealing with AI or autonomous farm equipment.

Treating Your Cover Crop Like a Cash Crop

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 08:00:00 -0400

No-Till Innovator and Williamsport, Ind., no-tiller Rick Clark knows just how important it is to manage your cover crops as if they were your cash crops. Let’s take a listen to Cark’s advice about the nutrient sequestration powers of cereal rye, and the positive and negative impact it could have on weeds and corn.

Staying Motivated to Keep Planting Cover Crops & Practicing No-Till

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 08:00:00 -0400

A few months ago, Canadian no-tiller Blake Vince gave a presentation at the Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance’s 20th Anniversary Meeting. And while the topic of his presentation was about conserving farm land with cover crops and the importance of bio diversity, there’s an anecdote that Blake told the audience about the future of no-till and cover crops that has stuck with me.

New Great Plains BD7510 Drill Perfect for No-Tilling Fall Cover Crops

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Fall is just about here and many no-tillers might be wondering what their best options are for no-tilling Fall cover crops. Here’s Tony Wisker, Vice President of Sales with Great Plains, to tell you about one new option that would be a great fit for no-tilling Fall covers.

Farmer Launches Terraform SmartProbe System to Map Compaction

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Green Cover has lots of different cover crop species and mixes on display. Something else interesting going on at the Green Cover tent this year is a cool new product from Terraform. This is a product that helps you determine if cover crops might be able to solve compaction issues on your farm. Let's hear from Josh Jeske of Terraform to tell you more about it.

Live Demo of Plant Right Minimum Disturbance No-Till Drill

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Cover crops and no-till are a match made in heaven. Mackane Vogel had a chance to visit with Loysville, Pa. no-tiller and innovative no-till manufacturer Charlie Martin.

Using Cover Crops to Set the Table for Corn

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 08:00:00 -0400

I’m here at the Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance’s 20th Anniversary celebration on Jim Hershey’s farm, having a field day in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. As you can see we’ve had lots of equipment on display, lots of demos so far and lots of great speakers too. So, we’ve got a great Cover Crop Connection in store for you and we’re going to toss it off to that segment right now.

National Cover Crop Variety Testing Program

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 08:00:00 -0400

As part of a $10 million effort funded by the USDA, the first National Cover Crop Variety Test Report is being released publicly. The project is led by the University of Missouri’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture and includes data for 25 varieties representing six different cover crop species tested across 12 states to help inform cover crop decision making based on winter hardiness, biomass potential, weed control, and other key cover crop traits.

Multi-Tasking Cover Crops Suppress Weeds, Help Boost No-Tilled Soils

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 08:00:00 -0400

For this episode, we are going to Nelson, Missouri to visit with Alan Weber as he discusses his use of cereal rye and other cover crops on his farm. Weber runs a diversified crop and livestock operation and he’s found cereal rye especially useful in reducing pigweed and waterhemp pressure.

Jim Hershey’s Cover Crop Garden Experiment for Weed Suppression

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Earlier this month I visited Jim Hershey’s farm in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. And while last episode you had a chance to see what his plans are for the upcoming Pennsylvania No-Till alliance Field Day, this week I thought I’d showcase one of Jim’s latest experiments.

Jim Hershey Plans for Sudan Sorghum Cover Crop Live Planting Demo

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Mackane Vogel here with this week’s cover crop connection and as i said before we are in Elizabethtown Pennsylvania at Jim Hershey’s farm and why don’t we see what Jim Hershey has been working on this year with cover crops.

Dave Brandt’s Legacy Lives On for Generations

mvogel@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 30 May 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Come along to Carroll, Ohio and visit Walnut Creek Seeds Farm — home of the legendary Dave Brandt where we had a chance to chat with with Dave Brandt’s grandson — Chris — about what's new on his farm and how he plans to carry on his grandfather's legacy of soil health.

Planting Green… By Accident?

nnewman@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 02 May 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Earlier this week I had a chance to catch up with Lisa Kubik. She’s an Iowa grower who grazes cattle and grows corn, soybeans and cover crops, but she also works with growers through Agoro Carbon Alliance. She told me about a cover crop case study and another Iowa farmer she recently worked with who saw great cover crop success by — get this — accidentally planting green.

2025 National Cover Crop Survey Release

nnewman@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 07:00:00 -0400

More than 650 farm advisors from across the U.S. participated in a survey on cover crops, shining light on how they advise growers on cover crops. A report on the survey was released this week by the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC), USDA SARE Program, and the American Seed Trade Association.

Looking Into Cover Crops & Glyphosate Resistance in the UK & U.S.

nnewman@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Well it’s no secret that glyphosate resistant weeds are becoming more of a problem for farmers all over the world. But what role do cover crops play in this situation and how does it vary between the U.S. and the UK?

Planting Cover Crops Before Anyone Knew What a Cover Crop Was

nnewman@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Well, this week we kicked off the 6th annual National Cover Crop Summit which featured more than half a dozen presentations from a variety of great speakers covering several different cover crop related topics. But if you missed out on the sessions, we’ve got you covered.

Breaking Down the Benefits of Seeding Cover Crops in Early Spring

nnewman@lessitermedia.com — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 07:00:00 -0500

Frost seeding legumes and spring cereals can work very well according to University of Missouri agronomist Rob Myers. And as Rob tells us here in the Cover Crop Connection, if you want to wait a little bit longer and plant your covers in April, that’s perfectly fine, too.