Hickory, N.C., native Russell Hedrick took an unconventional path to regenerative ag success, transitioning from career firefighter to full-time farmer in 2012. He currently grows corn, soybeans, white wheat, black oats, triticale and barley across 1,000 acres in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

When Hedrick started learning about farming, he kept hearing the same thing from many of his peers — “no-till, no yield.”

“I will agree that no-till can mean no yield if you’re not doing something to supplement the system — like planting cover crops,” Hedrick says.

Hedrick has since busted the "no-till, no-yield’ myth, harnessing the power of cover crops to etch his name in the record books. He shattered the dryland corn yield record with 459.51 bushels per acre in 2022 and the North Carolina soybean yield record with 117.1 bushels per acre in 2021. He had the new state soybean record in his crosshairs in 2023, until Mother Nature intervened.

“We had 2 tornadoes come through in the same day in September, and one of them went over our best field,” Hedrick says. “We had to move 30 trees out of the way just to harvest the crop. I think we would’ve broken our old record if not for the tornadoes. We had yield estimates as high as 160 earlier in the season. But even with all the dead spots from the tornadoes, we still had soybean yields in the mid-90s.”

Cover Crop Strategies

Hedrick’s tornado-proof program begins with a multi-species cover crop mix planted annually in the fall — up to 40 pounds per acre of cereals, 5 pounds of crimson clover and 3 pounds of vetch. Using Aqua Spy soil sensing technology, Hedrick learned cover crops are increasing his soil moisture availability by 7-9 inches, cash crop root depth by 28 inches and decreasing soil temperature by 6-8 degrees from March through November.

Farmers who are looking to push soybean yields must apply nitrogen (N) or build it organically with cover crops, Hedrick says. He prefers the latter because it’s cheaper and more effective long term, and he has the numbers to prove it.

“In 2022, we saved $34,000 on phosphorus (P), a little over $8,000 on potassium (K) and $92,000 on N using the Haney soil test,” says Hedrick, who’s been soil testing since 2012 to determine the exact needs of his crops. “The Haney test, cover crops and cutting out part of our chemical program because of our weed suppression with cover crops saved us a total of $164,000 in 2022. I don’t think we’ll ever get to the point where our farm is 100% fertilizer free. But we can apply low amounts of fertilizer and see a massive return on investment.”

Hedrick planted his state record-breaking Ag Venture AV51V7E soybean variety in 30-inch rows April 16, 2021. He ran a 2-by-2-by-2-inch fertilizer application system on his custom-built 6-row planter, applying 4 gallons of 11-37-0 and 6 gallons of 28-0-0-S at plant.

At V3/V4, he sprayed ½ gallon of Win Biologics SoySauce (made up of N, K, boron, manganese and humic acid), 1 gallon of 3-18-18 and 1 quart of NutriSol Micro 581 (boron, iron, manganese, zinc and molybdenum). At R1, he sprayed another ½ gallon of SoySauce, another quart of Micro 581, and he also broadcasted 50 pounds of potassium sulfate, 25 pounds of Anuvia SymTRX and 50 pounds of urea. He made one last round of foliar applications at R5 — 1 gallon of 3-18-18 and 1 quart of Micro 581.

“That’s a pretty basic package,” Hedrick says. “It didn’t break the bank. The cost of production on those soybeans was roughly $400 per acre.”

What’s Changed Since 2021?

Hedrick never stays complacent, even during a record-breaking year. He noticed that late-season fertility uptake was being limited by inadequate moisture availability in his soil. Hedrick solved that problem in 2023 by attaching a deep-banding fertilizer bar with Yetter 2996 20-inch coulters to his planter.

“In North Carolina, we’re always 10 days away from a drought,” Hedrick says. “That means if we don’t get moisture at least once every 10 days, the top 2-3 inches of the soil are going to dry out, and we’re not going to have nutrient availability. With our new fertilizer bar, we’re able to inject nutrients 4-6 inches deep, where we’re maintaining higher moisture content throughout the season. This year we injected 11-37-0, KTS (potassium thiosulfate), boron, zinc, molybdenum, copper, silica and EnSoil algae at variable rates before planting.”

The deep-injection fertility resulted in a massive increase in seed size. In fields where Hedrick ran his normal fertility program, there were around 2,800 seeds per pound, which is close to the national average. But where Hedrick debuted the deep-injection fertility program, he had 1,736 seeds per pound and 1,359 seeds per pound in the fields where he implemented Concept AgriTek’s Foliar Rx program in addition to the deep-injection fertility.

“Those soybeans looked more like pinto beans,” Hedrick says. “To go from 2,800 seeds per pound to under 1,400, we’re able to double yield with the same number of plants. We’re now focusing on maximizing seeds per pound, rather than pushing plant population and dealing with the insect and disease issues that come with overpopulation.”

Foliar Rx contains a blend of fulvic acid, micronutrients, enzymes and other biological stimulants. Through weekly tissue sample analysis, a Concept AgriTek consultant provided Hedrick with exact recommendations for how many ounces of Foliar Rx should be sprayed.

“We tissue sampled every Monday and then applied the foliar application every Friday to make sure the crop had exactly what it needed by V4,” Hedrick says. “Early season tissue sampling and spraying is critical when you’re going for high yields.”  

Sugar is another key component to Hedrick’s high-yielding formula. For his record-breaking soybeans, he applied ½ pound of cold processed sucrose per acre at plant, followed by 1 pound around V4 and another ½ pound at R5. He says the sugar increases the brix level in soybeans and acts as a natural insect repellant, eliminating the need for insecticide most years.

“We use sugar as a preventative, not a curative,” Hedrick says. “It costs me about 50 cents per pass. It takes time for the sugar to get into the crop to deter the pest. If you’ve already got an infestation of insects in your crop, then sugar is not the way to go.”

Hedrick scouts for insect and disease pressure every 48 hours. Late-season disease was a problem in 2023, so he sprayed 7 ounces of BASF Revytek fungicide around R2. He saw an 8-bushel advantage in the field that was sprayed, compared to a check plot that wasn’t. 

Planting Green Pivot

On top of the tornadoes in September, Hedrick dealt with the usual dryland challenges in 2023. He normally plants green into living cover crops. That was the plan after a cold and wet start to April 2023. But 3 weeks into the month, it stopped raining and was dry for over 45 days. Hedrick stuck with his plans for planting green initially, until he noticed something was off in the planter.

“We started seeing less and less moisture as we were planting,” Hedrick says. “Our planter has downpressure sensors on the gauge wheels, and we could tell how much pressure we had to apply to get 100% contact on the gauge wheels. When we saw those numbers creep up, we decided we should stop planting immediately. We terminated the rest of our cover crops as fast as possible before resuming our planting.”

Hedrick estimates about 50% of his acres were planted green in 2023, including his high-yielding soybeans, before he called the audible. He encourages others to terminate cover crops before planting if it’s too dry.

“Planting into that big biomass definitely maximizes the benefits of the cover crops, but if you’re seeing that soil moisture has dried up, and there’s no rain in the forecast, then kill those cover crops,” Hedrick says. “I think that’s the problem a lot of no-tillers had in the Midwest this year. Some of them pushed the envelope too hard on planting green despite the lack of soil moisture, and it bit them. I love planting green, but there are going to be years when the weather doesn’t cooperate, and you have to be willing to call an audible.”