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This is a slightly modified version of the presentation that I shared at the AgMasters conference in Champaign IL on 11/27/2012
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What is innovation?
The Ag Industry spends billions of $ each year on R&D
Millions of acres of sales are required to cover R&D costs
Intellectual property is aggressively
protected
Silver buckshot is a concept promoted by a collaboration of agencies and orgs called
GREEN LANDS BLUE WATERS
There are no silver bullet solutions that sustainably balance environmental quality with
productivity and profitability in agriculture!
A better strategy is . . .
silver buckshot!
Perennial-based
crop rotations
Perennial bio-energy crops Permanent pasture systems
Winter cover crops
Impact of the 2008 floods on IA soils
20 tons per acre average soil loss across 2,284,000 ac!
Conservation structures needing repair 12,157 Grassed Waterways
8,137 Terraces 3,375 Water and Sediment Control Basins
800 Grade Stabilization Structures
Fields with combinations of two or more conservation practices (e.g., no-till + cover crops) performed much
better than fields with a single practice
"Farmers are not to blame," said University of Illinois researcher Mark David. "They are using the same amount of nitrogen as they were 30 years ago and getting much higher corn yields, but we
have created a very leaky agricultural system. This allows nitrate to move quickly from fields into
ditches and on to the Gulf of Mexico. We need policies that reward farmers to help correct the
problem."
REDUCTION POTENTIAL
combine summer annuals with winter annuals
Drainage practices should be combined with other practices that reduce leaching
Reduce N rate by 25 lbs/a
Right source Right rate Right time Right place
Go
od
co
nce
pt W
hat’s
missin
g?
Right source Right rate Right time Right place
Bar
e fa
llow
Kaspar et al. J. Environ. Qual. 36:1503-1511
The science is clear - cover crops can reduce nitrate leaching at lower cost than most other practices!
…while also improving soil
health
CROP SOD
Same soil type and landscape position
Students in my Soil Properties class are each analyzing paired soils from their farms
A recent survey by Farm Futures
magazine of more than 1,000 farmers found those on the
cutting edge of conservation were
actually more profitable than other farmers.
In short, it is
possible to be both green and gold!
adopt ≠ adapt
Do you know any early adopters?
Do you know any master adapters?
Farmers that make cover crops work tend to be master adapters!
Haphazard cover cropping
What am I supposed to do
now?
“What cover crop should I plant ???”
Very common question received by CC seed vendors in early fall
Well… what do you want your cover
crop to do for you?
What needs to be adjusted to find the best fit?
Where are the best places for cover crops on your farm?
When is the best time for establishment and termination?
Are you familiar with the term Precision Conservation?
Start planning today! • Anticipate planting windows
• Match objectives with species
• Confirm seed availability
• Make sure seeding equipment is ready
• Identify realistic termination methods
• Allocate labor
• Develop contingency plans
NEW IL Cover Crop
Decision Tool
Peer-reviewed publications about CC in IL
Opportunities for planting cover crops • Dormant seeding early or late winter
• Frost seeding • In the spring
• When planting summer crops • Prevent plant scenarios
• While sidedressing • After small grains • After vegetables
• After seed corn or silage corn • Aerial or high clearance seeding into standing crops in late
summer/early fall • After early corn/bean grain harvest
• After full season corn/bean grain harvest
Cover crops should not be viewed as the missing puzzle piece(s) in current cropping systems!
Grazing brassicas, clovers, small grains, a. ryegrass, sorghum-sudan
Nutrient scavenging/cycling brassicas, small grains, annual ryegrass
Bio-drilling brassicas, sugarbeet, sunflower,
sorghum-sudan sweet clover, alfalfa
N-fixation clovers, vetches, lentil, winter pea, chickling vetch, sun hemp, cowpea, soybean
Bio-activation/fumigation brassicas, sorghum-sudan, sun hemp, sesame
Weed suppression brassicas, sorghum-sudan, cereal rye, buckwheat
GRAZING = #1 way to make cover crops pay!
Match CC objectives with species
Oats, turnips and cereal rye
• Cover crops (winter or summer) can provide high-
quality forage and increase economic return and farm diversity, but some farmers have been reluctant to take this advantage due to perceived “compaction” caused
by animal trampling.
• Grazing of cover crops can compact soil, but not to the detrimental levels often perceived.
Franzluebbers AJ and JA Stuedemann. 2008. Soil physical responses to cattle grazing cover crops under
conventional and no tillage in the Southern Piedmont USA.
Soil and Tillage Research 100, 141-153.
www.cheneylakewatershed.org/newsletter/2008-Fall.pdf
Radish Roots at ~ 40”
after 45 days
Crop root density as affected by preceding cover crop
Chen and Weil (2006)
• much less top growth but deeper roots than cereal rye • much less winter hardy than cereal rye • can be difficult to kill • can be a serious weed in small grains
Radishes are not the only good bio-driller!!
Cover Crops
Adapted from Magdoff and Weil (2004)
CCs affect many agronomic factors simultaneously
Feed livestock
Control erosion
? ?
Increase management
Host pests
Become a weed
Prevent soil drying
Dry out soil excessively
Interfere w/ equipment
performance Suppress crop
growth
Tie up N
Add cost
Cover Crops
Adapted from Magdoff and Weil (2004)
Not all effects are positive
Reduce Risk • Enroll in programs that pay you to plant CCs
• Use time tested CC methods • Use more than one method of planting CCs
• Plant mixtures/cocktails • Grow some crops e.g. small grains, vegetables, corn silage,
shorter season hybrids/varieties that are harvested early • Plan residual herbicide programs carefully
• Scout for insect pests that are attracted to residue • Irrigate
The
most tried and true cover cropping system in
the Midwest region
Frost seeded red clover
Traditional cover cropping in the Midwest
There are lots of options after small grain harvest
Drilling CC after corn/bean harvest is a good option for a limited # of acres!
There are many options other than drilling
Use precision planting
Precision planted radishes at the WIU Organic research farm
Precision planted cover crops in Indiana
Annual ryegrass & radishes aerial seeded into soybeans at leaf drop.
Aerial seeding is fast and relatively cheap but more sensitive to weather
Set-up for efficient aerial seeding in SE IA
Steve Nebel
Steve Nebel
25-50% YELLOW
Steve Nebel
25-50% LIGHT PENETRATION
IA and IL Aerial Applicator Survey (May-June 2010)
Name Location Experience w/CC Cost
Cady Aerial Spray Rock Falls, IL
no exp., no customer
interest $8.00/a norm app $8.50/a cc
Benoit Aerial
Spraying Kankakee, IL turnips and rye $8.00/a norm app $10.00/a cc
Franks Flying
Service Morrison, IL ryegrass and c. rye $8.00/a norm app $10.00/a cc
Reeds Fly-on
Farming Mattoon, IL
yes, c. rye, small part
of business $8.00/a norm app $12.00/a cc
Killiam Flying
Service Carlinville, IL
rye, wheat on beans,
rye on corn $8.00/a norm app $10.00/ac
or 10/lb
Curless Flying
Service Astoria, IL ryegrass and turnips $8-15.00/a all app.
Klein Flying
Service
St. Francisville,
IL annual rye and turnips ~$12.50/a cc,
$9.00/a liquid app
Agriflite Services Wakarusa, IN rye, wheat, ryegrass ave $15.00/a for cc app.
Al's Aerial
Spraying Ovid, MI rye and wheat $10-15.00/a cc
$10.00/a liquid
Optimize fertility • Inoculate legumes
• Inoculate non-legumes?
• Fertilize cover crops when
residual fertility is low
Hairy Vetch 3,260 lbs of DM/ac
141 lbs of N/ac
133 lbs of K/ac
18 lbs of P/ac
52 lbs of Ca/ac
18 lbs of Mg/ac
+20 lbs N/a
Learn from cover crop innovators • Attend field days/host a field day
• Attend conferences
• Participate in internet forums
Field day at Steve Groff’s farm
Subject Replies Views
> 100 threads and > 200,000 views in 2011
A Wheat-Corn-Bean rotation with "tillage" done via RADISHES (!!) into the wheat stubble every third year! All done with a single 60 ft 30" planter, RTK and one 60ft toolbar. Fertilizer
efficiency is very good with banding, split application and no fall losses.
I came away from there thinking I have seen the future of
production agriculture, at least in some areas.
Sorry to go on so long but this was a very interesting day. The field of tillage radishes was incredible. The size of those
things does really seem to break up the soil at least as deep as many tillage tools.
I think this may be the future for many folks and Joel, Steve, Ed
8625 views!!
Joe Rothermel’s new rig
Cover crops planted with insecticide boxes while stripping
One day, in the mid-1980s, Upton got a magnified view of his soil’s limitations. While tearing out a fence, Upton noticed plenty of moisture in the soil about three feet down. Above it sat a compacted layer of soil through which no roots were growing. Upton had a visible confirmation of why, during dry years, the shallow-rooted crops dried up even though there was plenty of water stored in the soil below.
Ralph “Junior” Upton Springerton, Illinois 1,800 acres of no-till corn, beans and wheat & annual ryegrass, cereal rye and hairy vetch cover crops Problem Addressed Difficult soil characteristics. Ralph “Junior” Upton farms poorly drained land characterized by an impenetrable layer, or “plow pan,” six to eight inches deep that crop roots typically can’t grow through.
“I began looking for a way to break up that plow pan so my crops could get to the moisture they needed”
~ 120 profiles since 2008
Learn from research On-farm research
• Leave check strips - replicate if possible
• Work with universities/NRCS
Research station trials
• Make suggestions
• Pay attention to results
Cover crop system Relative
corn yield
Volunteer oats 79%
Radishes planted on 30” 99%
Radishes drilled on 7.5” 91%
Corn following cover crop experiment in 2011
Corn planted on radish rows
Early July 2009
Organic No-till research at the Allison Farm
Soybeans drilled after rolling 5’ tall cereal rye
Early August 2009
Early November 2009
Plot yields ranged from 51.6 to 58.6 bu/ac
No significant differences between NT, CT and bio-strip-till systems
November 2011
Have you considered this option for combating herbicide resistance!
Soybean health experiment – 6 locations across IL
Mustard Rapeseed
Canola Cereal rye Cereal rye
November 2010
Soybeans no-till drilled into cereal rye were the top yielder in 2011
incorporated pre-plant
no-till
Beware of hype!
Cover crops are not a silver bullet
solution to any problem!!!
Be realistic about potential CC challenges
but optimistic about real opportunities
