March 29, 2024

Cover crop and soil health meeting well attended

Clarke and Decatur County Farm Bureaus teamed up and sponsored a cover crop and soil health informational meeting Tuesday, Sept. 15, at Van Wert Community Center.

The increased interest in cover crops showed with the attendance of 64 people, with some producers traveling as far as Marshall, Polk and Wapello counties.

Speakers addressed the latest practices that improve soil health, maintain organic matter and increase productivity.

The meeting began with an outside display and demonstration of a rainfall simulator presented by Marc Zucco, NRCS soil scientist, and Steve Lewis, NRCS resource conservationist. This demonstration replicates how good soil health allows good infiltration and limited runoff.

The meeting continued with a meal funded by the Decatur, Lucas and Wayne County Soil and Water District.

During the meal, a panel of speakers continued sharing their experiences and recommendations when planting cover crops.

Colton Catterton of Corning, NWMC with a master’s degree in cover crops and an emphasis in grazing, talked about different cover crop mixes and their benefits.

He said there are cover crop species that will build soil health, provide nitrogen for the next crop or loosen soil for better infiltration amount other benefits.

Steve McGrew, a producer from Emerson, farms with his three brothers and nephew and had been experimenting with cover crops on a corn and bean rotation since 1993 and strongly urged long term no-till in addition to cover crops.

His experiences have lead him to be able to produce a crop with limited to no extra applied nutrients and he has been most successful using cereal rye, wheat or hairy vetch as cover crops.

Paul Ackley of Taylor County and a member of Practical Farmers first started using rye as a cover crop in 1974.

Taylor spoke on the benefits of cover crops and grazing where he has eliminated all fertilizer on his pastures and through rotation of livestock through paddocks.

With the grazing methods that he uses he has been able to eliminate insecticide on his livestock.

The evening ended with Dave Brant, a long time no-till and cover crop user from Ohio. He is well known for his expertise in cover crops and the experiences he has had using cover crops.

His crop rotation is a corn-bean-wheat rotation with “cocktail” mixes used extensively. He showed the results when planting beans in between the corn where the beans are supplying the nitrogen.

Brant presented how he can produce 190 bushel corn without adding any nutrients. His presentation showed the cover crops that increases nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, copper and magnesium, all nutrients needed in the soil to produce a healthy crop.

He said, throughout the years, he has had failure in the cover crops he had planted but it only enforced the need to try others the next year. He recommended the audience to try cover crops on a small scale first, but to get a goal in mind of what you are wanting the cover crops to do for you.

He talked about the different species that can enhance the soils organic matter, improve infiltration, increase or scavenge nitrogen, improve magnesium or copper and increase forage for grazing.

People have read they need to terminate the growing crops at least two weeks in advance before planting. However in Brant’s experience, he said if you can’t plant quickly, especially before the next rain, the fields may stay too wet to be able to plant because of the heavy residue. He suggested, if planting into tall species such as rye or triticale, that you roll it to crimp the stem and plant immediately.

Clarke and Decatur County Farm Bureaus were proud to help bring this workshop to producers. The meeting was made possible through a SHARE Grant offered by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation.

Additional key sponsorship partners included Clarke, Decatur, Lucas and Wayne Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Practical Farmers of Iowa, Iowa State University Extension, Rathbun Land and Water Alliance and Green Cover Seeds. Warren Keeler provided his farm as a working demonstration.

This is Keeler’s third year for planting cover crops and he has made changes each year.

Last fall, he planted wheat with the plan to harvest the wheat then build some terraces during the summer, then plant cover crops in late summer.

His farming practices are known, and when asked if he would be willing to use his field for the cover crop tour, he agreed since it is along the highway and easy to access.

He got the wheat harvested and the terraces built, but then it started raining and four inches of rain put him behind on planting. He did get the cover crop of a seven-seed cocktail planted, but it had not begun to emerge until a week after the tour when he started seeing some of the seedlings peeking through.