Plant Cover Crops

Learning about the benefits of planting cover crops.

Cover Crops in Iowa

More Fall Cover Crop Field Days Coming

This fall there are more cover crop field days to attend in Iowa and Wisconsin.

 

For those in Iowa see http://practicalfarmers.org/blog/2013/fall-2013-cover-crop-field-days-scheduled

In Wisconsin there are two field days:

There will be opportunities to look in soil pits in Northern climates to see just what is going on beneath the surface of the soil.
There will be opportunities to look in soil pits in Northern climates to see just what is going on beneath the surface of the soil.

October 21, 2013 – 10:30am – Cover Crop Plot Tour
Hosted by Legacy Seeds’ Kris Tessar and Ag Ventures Shawano
Located at the farm of Paul McClone on Cty BE in Bonduel, WI
Dave Robison will be speaking – Lunch will follow the tour
RSVP to Ag Ventures at 715-524-8812
October 22, 2013 – 10:30am – Cover Crop Plot Tour
Hosted by Legacy Seeds’ Kris Tessar and ADM
Located at the farm of Ken Huber at 3848 Cty P in Oxford, WI
Dave Robison will be speaking – Lunch will follow the tour
RSVP to ADM (Perry or Sue) at 800-367-4057

I hope to see you there!  Dave

 

Cover Crops and Prevented Plant Information Guidance

In late June I was on a farm in west central Wisconsin with two farmers that had over 3,000 of their nearly 6,000 acres that were too wet to plant in 2013.  This is an example of what I have seen and heard and read on personal farm calls, numerous phone calls, and multiple e-mails that farmers have asked for advice on “what to do.”

On my way home from that on-farm visit I called Ryan Stockwell from the National Wildlife Federation. NWF has been a great friend to agriculture and cover cropping.  I wanted to see what Ryan was hearing about potential changes in RMA Crop Insurance rulings for the upper Midwest – so farmers might be able to harvest their cover crops (or alternative forages) from their prevented planting acres before November 1, 2013.  What I heard from Ryan was not good news for the livestock producer that is desperately short of feed because of the drought of 2012 and severe alfalfa winterkill during the winter of 2012-13.

As I lamented to Ryan how I thought that there should be some “flexibility” in the crop insurance regulations, it hit me that farmers could possibly make more money harvesting forages and NOT taking their crop insurance payment.  That is when we got Sarah Carlson (Practical Farmers of Iowa) and Tom Kaspar  (USDA-ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in Ames, Iowa) involved.

If you are considering what to do with prevented planting acres and you need forage, or you are considering whether to put a cover crop on your prevented planting acres, then this article is for you.  Please read Cover crops and prevented plant information guidance.

My marking numbers on a notebook I began while driving down I-90/94 tuned into a full fledged article that was well beyond my expectations. Thanks to Ryan, Sarah, and Tom for making this a scientific article that more than solidified my idea and well exceeded my abilities.  You guys are the best!

 

Cover Crops are Working in Iowa

Cover crops are working in Iowa!

While that may not mean much to my eastern corn belt friends it means a lot in Iowa and the upper Midwest.

Working with Sarah Carlson from Practical Farmers of Iowa and Tom Kaspar from ARS at Ames, Iowa, we’ve been attempting to identify what cover crops will be most compatible with common Iowa farming practices – in particular the use of longer season corn hybrids and soybean varieties, as well as an abundance of corn after corn (CAC) management strategies. Establishing cover crops like radishes and annual ryegrass into these situations hasn’t proved to be easy.

Aerial application of cover crops (annual ryegrass, crimson clover, radishes, etc.) into corn in Ohio and Indiana has been very successful. However, in Iowa it has not worked with quite as much success.  Cereal rye may actually be the best alternative. While it may seem a bit “simple” to plant mainly cereal rye most years, there are significant benefits to using cover crop rye in a corn after corn scenario, mainly because it has been shown to reduce Goss’s wilt.

September 5, 2011 planted Annual Ryegrass compared to Winter Cereal Rye in central Iowa in April 2012. Note the dramatic difference in winterhardiness.
September 5, 2011 planted Annual Ryegrass compared to Winter Cereal Rye in central Iowa in April 2012. Note the dramatic difference in winterhardiness even after a very mild winter.

Sarah commented that besides using more winterhardy species for greater success, it is also very important to not interseed the cover crops into green corn or green soybeans.  She says, “Pushing radishes with aerial seeding into a dense, dark corn or soybean canopy is unsuccessful.”

But if the right cover crop is used in Iowa and managed well then covers work very well!  Rod Swoboda from Wallaces Farmer published an article written by Sarah Carlson reflecting work that was overseen in Iowa by PFI.