More farmers, ranchers and others who rely on the land are taking action to improve the health of their soil

For the second year, a national survey of farmers has documented a yield boost from the use of cover crops in corn and soybeans, as well as a wide variety of other benefits. The survey also details the challenges and benefits farmers expect from cover crops, data on the costs of seed and establishment, and insight into how farmers learn to manage covers.

Cresco, Iowa, strip-tiller Frank Moore shares his experience incorporating cover crops into his 2,000 acre operation. With changing weather patterns and more "event storms", that can erode soil structure, Moore's goal with cover crops in strip-till is to establish the crop in winter and have it help control spring rainfall through an established root system to hold soil in place.

You could call Dean Sponheim an accidental conservationist. Well, at least initially, anyway. In 1999, Sponheim was frustrated that every year he had to replant a big chunk of a field that wasn't well tiled. "I was looking for a system where I didn't have to work it in the spring," he said.

Now is the time to think about controlling summer annual weeds prior to seed set in cropping situations where this is possible.

Dr. Tracy Blackmer, Director of Research for Cover Crop Solutions, provides a basic understanding of the nutrient benefits provided by various species of cover crops and how no-tillers can properly utilize those cover crops to reduce their levels of applied fertilizer. [To view any of our webinar replays, you must be logged in with a free user account.]

Iowa Learning Farms will host a Strip-till and Cover Crops for Nutrient Management field day on Tuesday, June 17 at the farm of Mark Thompson near Badger, Iowa from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Topics that will be discussed include the use of strip-tillage and cover crops as conservation farming techniques, and how these methods reduce water impairment and pollution. The event is free-of-charge and open to the public, and dinner will be provided.

Strip-till systems were developed several decades ago and are now widely used in the coastal plains region of the southeastern United States for crops such as cotton, corn, and peanuts as a means to break up the naturally settling and consolidating subsoil layers that are routinely formed in this area.

A move to strip-tilling corn with a homemade unit was an efficient path to consistent yields for Illinois farmer Charlie Durdan.

Cereal rye cover crops added to a corn-soybean rotation seem to have little negative effect on yield, according to a five-year study conducted by Iowa Learning Farms and Practical Farmers of Iowa.