Back in the 1990’s, my dad attended a no-till meeting hosted by Jim Kinsella in Lexington, IL. He learned something there that he still shares with our farm today: Farmers have either the power or tilth gene. Generally, farmers with the power gene prefer working ground. Tilth can be easy to understand but hard to describe. Tilth refers to the general condition of the soil, including seed bed, organic matter, erosion control, drainage, and more. Neither gene is better than the other, as each farm has different tillage needs.
Ethan Cox checks a stand of healthy cereal rye planted on the Coxes’ corn ground this fall.
I understand that some soils can handle deep tillage and corn after corn for years. We have some ground that could handle that, but also have marginal ground that erodes. Our farm has implemented a no-till or minimum-tillage strategy since the 1990’s, but we joined the cover crop bandwagon in a big way this fall. We seeded cereal rye on corn ground where we harvested silage this summer and also on existing no-till farms where we plan to plant beans next spring.
Here’s why we planted 25% of our cropland in cover crops:
1. Helps weed control. Winter annuals are a thing of the past.
2. Alleviates compaction. I walked over a cover crop field today. It felt soft and spongy. The hair-like roots are as deep as the cereal rye is tall.
3. Reduces erosion. We fight erosion on our marginal hilly soils every year. Cover crops eliminate these problems.
4. Increases organic matter and residue. Long term soil tests should show organic matter increases.
5. Saves money on tillage equipment. We don’t own a 4 wheel drive tractor or disc ripper. We can rent either if needed.
The Cox family also seeded cover crops on no-till fields that will be planted to soybeans next spring.
We envision a future of using cover crops for at least half of our acres, if not more. Our goal is to produce better crops and be more profitable on the acres we farm.
What about you, are you or are you not planting cover crops?
The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Penton Agriculture.
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