Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Workshop attracts big crowd to learn about cover crops

Back to Leopold Letter Spring 2010

If turnout at the annual workshop of the Midwest Cover Crops Council is any indication, the use of cover crops has a bright future. More than 120 people from 13 states and provinces attended the March 3 event and nearly half were farmers, including some who had never used cover crops in their operations.

The workshop was hosted by the Leopold Center in partnership with the USDA’s National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in Ames, Practical Farmers of Iowa and the USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education (SARE) program.

Participants were as varied as the practices used in cover cropping. They included large cash-grain farmers, livestock producers and graziers, as well as farmers growing vegetables on very small farms. So it was with keen interest that they listened to researchers present some of the latest findings on these practices, and to farmers who shared practical experiences with managing cover crops, which included mixing cover crop seed with manure slurry applied to fields, modifying equipment, and tracking the many benefits of using cover crops.

Southeast Iowa farmer Steve Berger planted 1,000 acres of rye on his farm in 2007, and says that it works well with no-till operations to prevent soil erosion and encourage root growth.

“We get a tremendous root system out of rye and the corn roots follow them down,” Berger said. “If you get those corn roots to go down just one foot more, that’s two inches more of available moisture and in some years two inches is a big deal.”

In western Iowa, Ron Rosmann of Harlan uses cover crops for organic certification in his 600-acre diversified operation. Most recently, cover crops such as buckwheat provide additional forage for his livestock herd, half of which is pasture-fed. Besides providing ground cover, Rosmann said cover crops sequester carbon, provide nutrients for the next crop and have increased soil organic matter and soil quality since he started planting cover crops in 1984.

Another convincing recommendation came from Story County farmer Gary Guthrie, who converted two acres of his family’s corn-soybean farm into a garden that supplies a 74-member Community Supported Agriculture operation. “When I started farming in 1998, I could not have imagined how productive my soil could be,” he said. “Cover crops have been the key to soil building, and disease and weed control.”

Guthrie said at first he could expect a 300 square-foot bed to produce about 100 pounds of carrots. However, as soil quality increases he also has increased production, and under the right conditions some beds have produced more than 450 pounds of carrots.

USDA plant physiologist Tom Kaspar helped organize the workshop and said he was pleased with the interest among the participants. He says that the most valuable aspect of the meeting was the opportunity for farmers, extension educators, researchers and agency personnel to discuss cover crops and ask questions. “Cover crops are a long-term investment and require a different approach in an operation,” he said. “People are more at ease asking questions and there’s a lot we can learn from one another.”

The Leopold Center, PFI and USDA-ARS coordinate the Iowa Cover Crops Working Group, which works with the Midwest Cover Crops Council and the Green Lands, Blue Waters initiative to improve water and soil quality.

Back to Leopold Letter Spring 2010