From the cab of his truck, the future of Vincennes, Ind., No-Till Living Legend Ray McCormick’s newly planted corn doesn’t look promising.

Annville, Pa., no-tiller Zach Alger is a big believer in the benefits of cover crops. His 318-bushel corn yield was good enough for first place in the state’s 2023 NCGA Corn Yield Contest. Alger says planting conditions across his farm have improved quite a bit since he started using wheat as a cover crop about 10 years ago.

Winter peas can be a great addition to a cover crop mix for many growers, but the cost of these seeds can be high and the return on investment doesn’t always pay off. USDA plant research geneticist Lisa Kissing Kucek is in Madison, Wis., at the forage research center where she and other researchers have been breeding winter peas for 7 years in a nationwide cover crop breeding network to study spring vigor, winter vigor, biomass and other benefits of various cover crop species.

Lots of folks are saying we need to dramatically expand our cover crop acreage in an effort to improve soil health. But if this is going to happen over the next few years, the most effective way depends on many more farmers switching to no-tillage.

Time now for our Video of the Week. This one comes to us from Carlisle County, Ky. Brad Reddick reflects on his switch to no-till, and his son Joel explains why they’re playing small ball with cover crops.

As you can see we are at the birthplace of the tillage radish, yes I am on Steve Groff’s farm in Holtwood, Pennsylvania and speaking of which, we’re going to toss it off to Steve right now for some cover crop action.

Jim Stute has been tracking weather data for 30 years on his farm in East Troy, Wis. He says he’s seen the 2 wettest years, the 2 driest years and 3 consecutive years of early and midseason drought, all within the past 6 years!