The drought of 2012 has forced many Midwest growers to make the difficult decision to give up on the crop and prepare the land for next year. The consequence? Significant amounts of unused nitrogen remain in the soil. Planting a cover crop makes it possible to secure nitrogen in the field, reduce runoff, and recycle […]
CTIC Cover Crop Survey – Get it done right away! Chad Watts, CTIC Project Manager, asked me to help CTIC get a survey out for farmers using cover crops. Chad writes: The intent of the survey is to go out to only those folks who are using or have used cover crops, because the information
Cover Crop T-Shirts Cover Crops are gaining popularity and starting to become mainstream! How do I know? Now you can purchase Cover Crop T-Shirts! Practical Farmers of Iowa have designed a “Don’t Farm Naked” T-Shirt that you would be proud to wear (well, maybe not to church…). The shirts can be ordered here. For $15/shirt
The Midwest Cover Crop Council (MCCC) has added different states and cropping systems to their useful cover crop selection tool. This tool is a very helpful item that assists producers in choosing what cover crops can be used in their counties with their cropping systems and their choice of cover crop characteristics. Most recently Michigan
More Cover Crop Selection Tools Available Read More »
Over the past year I have had the honor and privilege of working with a group of university, NRCS, and ARS professionals on putting together the Midwest Cover Crop Field Guide. This guide (pocket sized) is pretty specific to the Midwestern part of the USA. However, many of the species can be used in other parts
“Midwest Cover Crops Field Guide” Now Available Read More »
During the first week of April I was in several root pits in northwest Indiana and boy did we find plenty of interesting factoids! I was assisted by Eileen Kladivko from Purdue University on one day and Barry Fisher, Indiana NRCS State Agronomist, on another day. What We Found in the Cover Crop Root Pits
Cover Crop Root Pits Reveal Plenty Read More »
There are two tremendous meetings coming up in the next two weeks featuring cover crop information. One is the Midwest Cover Crops Council annual meeting held at the Beck Agricultural Center near West Lafayette, IN. Producers should make a great effort to attend on Wednesday and Thursday if at all possible. The Thursday meeting is
Outstanding Cover Crop Meetings Coming Up Read More »
Cover Crop Education On the Road Hi folks. I know that most of you have been dying for new blog posts and a newsletter from me. I realize that you can’t sleep at night because you are wondering “is Dave okay?” I appreciate that – even if it’s not true! So where have I been?
Cover Crop Road Trip Read More »