Stanton field day teaches about cover crops, soil health
Soil health and cover crops were the main topics at a field day hosted at a Stanton farm on Friday.
Mark and Melanie Peterson hosted members of the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Practical Farmers of Iowa to educate area farmers about the importance of soil health and how cover crops can be beneficial.
Cover crops are crops planted primarily to help manage soil erosion, fertility, quality, water, weeds, pests, diseases and biodiversity. The crops can include grass, grain and legumes.
Rick Bednarek, a state soil scientist with the NRCS, spoke to farmers about what cover crops have done for the Petersons’ farm and how different types of crops and tilling techniques can affect soil health.
“Basically, we want to look at the soil and see soil properties here, especially physical with the structure of the surface, the organic matter, how the roots are going down,” Bednarek said.
A large hole dug in the soil at the Peterson’s farm showed soy bean roots growing directly down instead of horizontally. Bednarek said if roots are growing horizontal, it’s a sign that there is a compacted layer of soil, which can negatively affect soil health.
The soil scientist said farmers who don’t till seem to have better soil health, especially when they grow cover crops. If a farmer decides to quit tilling, Bednarek said it can take two to nine years to have the results of a “no-till farm.
“[Someone] out of Ohio State University did a study and he says if you just go to no-till, being in a good no-till system will take seven to nine years. As and agency, we always said seven years,” Bednarek said. “He said if you do no-till with cover crops, it’ll take two to four years. I think what happens is it’ll be closer to four if you just do a single specie cover crop. If you’re doing multi-specie cover crops, it’s going to be closer to two years. And if you incorporate cattle, with the manure and urine and such, it’ll be less than that. So, we can speed up all those processes if we do it the right way.”
Choosing a cover crop depends on what a farmer wants to do to their field, whether it’s building organic matter, adding nitrogen or compaction.
“It depends on what [a farmer’s] concern is or what they want [a cover crop] for,” Bednarek said. “Do you want to build organic matter? Do you want it for compaction? Well, then we want more than grass. Do you want to build up nitrogen levels? Start adding more legumes to it. Do you want it for grazing? So, it depends on what the concern is. The thing with cover crops is, especially when it comes to mixtures, what works for one farmer may not work for the other. You have to tailor to your operation.”
Bednarek said he believes more farmers should rely on cover crops to help with soil health, and even weed control, instead of certain chemicals. The scientist believes cover crops have become a bigger trend in the past few years, but they’ve been around for longer than that. He said some farmers believed fertilizers and chemicals were easier and better to use.
“I think it’s a combination of in the [70s] with new fertilizers coming out for nitrogen, I think genetics might play a little bit of [a role] because they do the genetics for what’s missing,” Bednarek said. “Also because of new fertilizers and all the new chemicals that take care of weeds and all that, it’s a lot less time-consuming, so they’ve gotten away from the cover crops.”
For more information on cover crops in Iowa, visit nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/ia/home/.