Like many Iowa farmers curious about the soil health movement, Jasper County’s Kyle Schnell and Fayette County’s Loran Steinlage have adopted 4R Plus practices and are enjoying financial rewards for their efforts. 4R Plus involves using precise 4R nutrient stewardship along with conservation practices like cover crops and no-till to enhance productivity, profitability and resiliency. 

Both attribute their interest in soil conservation to the previous generation of farmers in their families, who were focused on keeping the soil in place. Schnell and Steinlage say they were taught to be life-long learners and use their curiosity to investigate what other farmers are doing to improve profitability and soil health on their farms. This journey led them to relay cropping.

What is relay cropping?

Relay cropping is essentially a version of double cropping, but instead, the second crop is planted into the first crop before the first crop is harvested. For example, seeding a rye cover crop in the fall and then planting soybeans into that established cover crop in the spring. Then harvesting the rye cover crop in July as the rye has grown taller than the soybean plants. Steinlage harvests the rye grain with his combine as the heads of the rye plants are above the soybean canopy.

Steinlage converted all his acres to relay or companion cropping in 2015 after seeing success with interseeding. After several tweaks and experiments, Schnell plans to convert all his acres to relay cropping for the 2021 growing season.

Steinlage was growing continuous corn on corn successfully from a yield standpoint, but wanted to build organic matter in the soil and improve his bottom line. Now he grows corn, soybeans, winter wheat, malt barley and buckwheat on a rotational basis on far fewer inputs.

“Having a growing root between rows of corn and soybeans preserves moisture, suppresses weeds and adds organic matter to the soil,” he says. “As long as I can benefit from two crops a year from the process, it’s worth it. I’m maximizing the fixed assets.”

Robotically planting rye

In August on some acres, Steinlage started planting rye into the corn robotically and harvested the corn in the fall on established rye. The rest of the rye got drilled after harvest. In spring, he will plant soybeans into the standing rye and harvest the rye in July. After a couple of rotations similar to this, the rye yields match the soybean yields.

“We have reached the point where the sum of both crops equals two or greater crops,” he says. “If your sum is under two, you’re losing somewhere and need to evaluate how to change your system.”

Schnell’s evolution into relay cropping is slightly different. His father was an early adopter of no-till and began planting cover crops in the late ‘90s to control erosion on the rolling hills. With his father passing away in 2006, Schnell returned to the farm in 2013. During the transition, the land was rented, and there were periods where some tillage was done, and cover crops weren’t seeded.

Reaping multiple benefits

Schnell returned to the principles his father taught him and expanded his soil health journey by transitioning 70% of the land to what he calls “regenerative organic.”

PLANTING GREEN: Kyle Schnell plants soybeans into a standing cover crop of rye. The rye cover helps provide weed control, saving money by reducing use of herbicides.

“When I started doing more research on my own about the benefits of cover crops, I realized I could reach a goal of being organic without the need for tillage,” Schnell says. “While a lot of organic farmers use tillage to control weeds, herbicide usage was already declining dramatically on the farm in just a few years.”

Schnell says cover crops are easily justified by the savings in herbicides alone, and his use of synthetic inputs has dropped by 50% to 75%.

Both encourage farmers to do their own experiments so they can see the benefits firsthand. “I experimented in an eight-way cover crops mixture to see if I could replicate the soil health benefits others talked about,” Schnell says. “You have to experience it yourself before you believe it. Now I’m a believer in crop diversity.”

Steinlage says he feels the difference beneath his feet. “The living root is holding the soil in place and breaking up compaction. The soil is mellow,” he says. “Moisture sensors prove the rain is soaking into the soil, so crops get the full benefit from the rain.”

Where to from here?

Steinlage is turning his research and focus to further improving the water-holding capacity of the soil. “I realize we’ve come a long way from tillage and removing crop residue, but I’m focused on continual improvement,” he says. “Now I’ve turned my cover crops into cash crops. All this has been done by thinking differently.”

Schnell says he gets encouragement to try different 4R Plus practices through his online community. “Go to a field day or watch a virtual demonstration,” he says. “You have to think outside the box and look for opportunities. 4R Plus practices can be used for multiple reasons; there’s multiple ways to implement them, and they can also provide additional sources of revenue.

“I feel an urgency to learn more,” Schnell adds. “While I’m just in my early 30s, I only have 40 attempts to grow a crop in my lifetime. Instead of doing one experiment a year, I started doing three or five.”

“Soil is our most valuable asset,” Steinlage says. “Everybody wants to talk about removal rates, but how many people factor in the removal rate of the soil from erosion? We’re talking about exporting tons of soil per acre off our farms. We need to keep the soil in place.”

For more information, visit 4rplus.org.

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