As we count our blessings during the lead-up to Thanksgiving, cover crops are something that should be on every agricultural producer’s and consumer’s list.
Cover crops and other regenerative agriculture practices have been getting a massive amount of attention lately. There have been stories about them in major news outlets like Forbes and the New York Times and politicians have been working these concepts into their speeches and climate platforms, spreading the word about the benefits of keeping the soil covered with diverse living plants.
Critics of proven conservation practices like no-till, strip-till or cover crop seeding often complain there’s no evidence of material benefits to a farmer’s bottom line — that the only thing that matters is yield.
With over 2,000 farmers participating in the fourth annual survey, results once again showed that corn and soybean yields increased following cover crops.
While most soil health indicators demonstrated no significant differences among the treatments, cover crops grown for carbon ranked the highest for the Haney test, says University of Nebraska Extension.
Cover crops may be able to suppress weeds in some cases, but that’s just one consideration producers should take into account when selecting cover crops for their farm fields, says Kansas State University Extension.
A four-year University of Nebraska cover crop research project is exploring whether winter cover cropping in no-till corn and soybean systems can benefit soil quality despite their short growing season.
With radishes and other covers in his rotation, Saltcoats, Saskatchewan’s Kevin Elmy is smothering weeds, fixing nutrients, building feedstock and reducing his fertilizer bills.
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On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Martin-Till, Brian and Darren Hefty, fourth-generation farmers and hosts of Ag PhD, share tips for treating tar spot in corn.
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