Tag Archives: nitrogen scavenging cover crop

Ryegrass, Clover, Radish are Top Picks for Post 2012 Drought Cover Crops

Annual ryegrass, crimson clover and radish are among the most popular cover crops this year in the Midwest, as farmers rushed to plant something to absorb some of the available nitrogen still in the soil. The drought stifled the corn harvest, and thus much of the nitrogen put out there for corn was subject to be washed into nearby streams and lakes. Planting a cover crop like annual ryegrass has a “two-fer” effect: preventing erosion and simultaneously keeping the nitrogen in place for aiding the next field crop in 2013.

Here’s the article link in the Tribune Star (Terre Haute, IN) in which farmers (both experienced and newcomers to cover cropping) and Purdue agronomist Eileen Kladivko discuss the value of cover crops.

Soil and Water Improvements with No-Till and Cover Crops

From No-Till Farmer online, an article about the reduction of nutrients in Chesapeake Bay with conservation ag practices. Note, at the bottom, the finding about cover crop adoption being able to make significant additional contributions.

USDA-NRCS released an assessment of the effects of conservation practices on cultivated cropland in the Chesapeake Bay Region.

The findings of the report were encouraging – with cash incentives, farmers volunteered to protect nearly half of cropland acres with buffers or terraces, while no-tillage was used on 48% and reduced tillage on 40% of cropland.

The adoption of conservation practices resulted in 55% reduction in edge-of field sediment loss, 42% reduction in surface nitrogen losses, 31% reduction of subsurface losses of nitrogen, and 41% reduction in phosphorus losses (both sediment-bound and soluble).

Implementation of the BMPs reduced total loads from all sources (including urban, hay and pasture, urban land) delivered to the Chesapeake Bay by 10% for sediment, 14% for phosphorus and 14% for nitrogen.

The report also recognized there was potential for further improvement, especially on 19% of cropland which was in need of further conservation treatment. The report recommended targeting these areas of highest need, and to help land users implement comprehensive conservation plans which cover soil erosion control and comprehensive nutrient management (including rate, form, timing and method of nutrient application).

The report estimated that only 4% of cropped acres used cover crops in the period of assessment (2003-06). It was estimated that adoption of cover crops on all cropped acres could reduce sediment loss further by 59%, nitrogen loss by 19% (subsurface loss by 31%), and phosphorus loss by 32%.

Towery to Lead Cover Crop Discussion at National No-Till Conference

On the No-Till Farmer website today, an announcement about the upcoming National No-Tillage Conference (Jan 9 – 12, 2013, at the Indianapolis Hyatt Regency) If you’re attending the Jan. 9 to 12 event at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Indianapolis, please note the following new sessions on the program.

At Wednesday evening’s general session at 8:15 p.m., Dan Towery of Ag Conservation Solutions and a consultant to the Oregon Ryegrass Commission will present, “The Payback Potential Of Cover Crops In Enhancing Soil Health.”

Here’s how Dan described the presentation he’ll lead, with experts Steve Groff, David Brown and Dave Brandt adding their experience to the mix:

The process of increasing organic matter, improving nutrient cycling and cranking-up the soil biology is complex and not well understood. Yet some producers have been able to consistently grow high yielding corn which tolerated the drought much better and needed significantly less commercial nitrogen.

Organic matter, or humus, is the soil reservoir for soil nitrogen, sulfur, and much of the phosphorus. Increasing organic matter enables you to increase nutrient efficiency. In addition, managing soils in such a way as to increase diversity and benefit soil organisms is an important component.

Improving soil health or soil resilience can potentially provide 5-7” of additional moisture in a dry year, almost eliminate runoff, and require significantly less commercial nitrogen. However, it takes time and a plan to see these benefits.

Stay tuned…we’ll report back on the presentation at the No-Till Conference, where fundamentals will be covered and then you can decide if you want to join the parade heading to no-till and cover crops.

Mike Plumer Address Oregon Seed Growers about Annual Ryegrass Cover Crop Project

In 1996, Oregon sold perhaps a total of 100,000 pounds of annual ryegrass seed into the Midwest. By that time, the annual ryegrass cover cropping project had been active for almost a decade.But cover crops had not caught on in a big way, even though those early adopters were enthusiastic about the results they were seeing in their soil and their yields.

By the end of 2010, the annual amount had risen to about 5,000,000 pounds. Two years later, that figure has tripled (15 million pounds/year) and by some estimates, that amount could nearly double again next year.

What happened to propel sale of annual ryegrass in the Midwest? Four things, according to Mike Plumer, a pioneering cover crop educator and crop consultant:

The government’s heavy subsidy of ethanol fuel production. Beginning in 2008 farmers in the Midwest began to get ahead a few dollars and so they invested in cover crops to boost soil health and yields.
Because annual ryegrass had become a familiar product (because of a decade or more of education, field days, conference presentations, etc.), farmers turned to annual ryegrass for a cover crop alternative.
Government promotion of cover crops as an effective conservation measure
The drought of 2012 further encouraged cover cropping simply because so many farmers had excess nitrogen in the field and wanted something that would keep it there.

Annual ryegrass was among the most popular cover crops because those who had planted it last fall may have had less crop losses because of the deep rooting.

Dan Towery Recalls the Early Days of Cover Crops

Back in the mid to late 1980s, Dan Towery got enthusiastic about cover crops. “Mainly, we were interested in reducing erosion but we were also looking at nitrogen fixation properties that could benefit corn planted into the residue,” he said.

But then, in the summer of 1988, the drought was much like it was this past summer (2012), and as Towery recalls, the results of “not knowing enough about cover crops” created a multiplier effect in the drought’s impact.”In order to give the hairy vetch the maximum time in the ground, to maximize the nitrogen fixation, farmers left the cover crop in the field until the 3rd week of May, when normal corn planting is the 3rd week of April.

“The vetch sucked too much moisture from the ground and the drought was made worse because of that decision,” Towery said. I said then: ‘I’m not promoting cover crops anymore!'”

But times and attitudes changed with the addition of annual ryegrass as a cover crop alternative in the early 90s.By the late 90s, Towery was working at the Conservation Tillage Information Center, promoting no-till mostly. Early results from Mike Plumer’s work with farmers in Illinois were producing promising results with annual ryegrass.

It wasn’t long before Towery was a believer again. In fact, he was an advisor working with the Nature Conservancy on a watershed enhancement project in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, where farmers were paid to use annual ryegrass to prevent field runoff.

“Look at the change in acceptance since then,” Towery said. “From a time where we paid farmers $500 to plant 10 acres of cover crops (1998) to now, when we’re experiencing a shortage of annual ryegrass and other cover crop seed, because of the demand.”

Towery said that education has bee a key element in the popularity of cover crops. “And, an important element continues to be the caution about use of cover crops….you have to be willing to be a good manager of the cover crop, no matter which one you choose.”

Annual Ryegrass, Cover Crops in General are the Wave of Ag’s Future

Progressive Farmer magazine published an article by its Ag Policy Editor last week advocating the use of cover crops, especially this year, due to the potential for winter crops to sequester nitrates left in the field from the foreshortened corn crop season.

You can read the whole document here: Advocating for the Soil

Statistics indicate that less than 1% of farmers in the “Upper Mississippi River, Great Lakes and Missouri River basin” were planting cover crops in 2007. My belief, having seen firsthand the growth over the past decade, suggests that the increase in cover crop use since 2007 has absolutely gone off the charts.

I’ve been told that cover crop seed sales (and with annual ryegrass near the top of popular choices) doubled last year (2011) and tripled in the year before that.

Part of the increase has been publicity and the cost-sharing programs rolled out by various governmental agencies. In addition to cover crops being great for soil building, a lot of folks are looking at cover crops as the antidote to hypoxia in various bodies of waters: Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes and all the rivers feeding those massive bodies of water.

Cover Crops, including Annual Ryegrass, Important This Year to Soak Up Residual Nitrates

The University of Wisconsin (UW) published today an invitation for Midwest farmers to use cover crops this year, especially in light of the severe drought. You can see the whole article by clicking here:

An excerpt of the article, by UW staffers Matt Ruark, Kevin Shelley and Francisco Arriaga, as well as Rock County Extension staffer Jim Stute, follows:

With a growing season like we are having in 2012, it is likely that residual nitrate concentrations in the soil will be high, especially if corn was harvested early as silage or if yields are well below expected. One benefit of planting cover crops after corn silage, small grain, or a processing vegetable crop, or after a manure application is that the cover crop can take up residual nitrate and reduce the risk of nitrate leaching between harvest and planting.

Cover crops trap nitrate. The ideal cover crops for a nitrate trap crop are grass crops that establish quickly, such as cereal rye (aka winter rye), oat, barley, annual ryegrass (aka Italian ryegrass), and sorghum-sudangrass. These cover crops also have a fibrous root system. Brassicas (e.g. radish, turnip, mustard) and legumes (clover, hairy vetch) will also take up residual nitrate, but do not establish as quickly. Radish has been popular cover crop in no-till systems and, if planted early enough, radish can take up as much or more N compared to grass cover crops during the winter, but grass cover crops can scavenge N deeper into the soil profile.

The USDA-NRCS has announced additional funding through Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) to provide financial assistance to establish cover crops. The sign up for this program runs to August 24.

Some Rain, Too Late. Cover Crops May Help Protect Soil, Save Nutrients

The half-inch or so of rain in the Midwest this week has sprouted spirits, although with more warm weather forecast, the prospect for a reversal of fortunes on most corn crops is slim. The worst drought in more than 50 years has farmers mowing starved and stunted corn for sileage and bracing for similar hits with soybeans. (Make sure to check the nitrate levels in the corn stalks before saving it…too high a nitrate level can be fatal to livestock.) Even those able to salvage a corn crop this year will see vastly reduced yields.

Purdue’s Extension forage specialist Keith Johnson today recommended planting annual ryegrass, or another forage crop such as spring oat or forage turnip. Seeded early enough (August), farmers could get a grazing off the grass this fall, as well as next spring. Ryegrass would normally have a better chance of wintering over than oats or turnips.

Perhaps the only “silver lining” in the drought news is that there’s probably a lot of residual fertility in the soil that can be saved by planting a late summer cover crop, according to Nick Bowers, a seed grower in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The good news with annual ryegrass: it’s inexpensive, it’s a scavenger of excess N in the soil and, even if it doesn’t germinate this fall, it will sprout next spring. If normal rainfall picks up, aerial seeding will be adequate, but drilling is otherwise advised. For more on seeding, check out this page.

Looking for another silver lining? Iowa State University climatologist Owen Taylor said it appears that this weather pattern – similar to 1956 and 1988 – comes in 20 year cycles. It appears, Taylor said, that we’re headed back to a “normal” pattern with an El Nino forming. Keep your fingers crossed.

Cover Crop Root Growth – Annual Ryegrass

Steve Berger did a trial of annual ryegrass this past winter. It was ideal soil, having been in no-till for 25 years. On one plot he planted cereal rye; on the other he compared the growth of four annual ryegrass varieties.

Iowa has lagged behind other Midwest states in adoption of cover crops. Berger’s farm, in SE Iowa, is an ideal place to test it out. In that respect, Berger is an early adopter for trying annual ryegrass.

The winter was unusually mild and, thus, all the annual ryegrass did well, as did the cereal rye (a grain, not a grass). The surprising thing, when he did a root depth analysis…the cereal rye roots went deeper into the soil than annual ryegrass. Usually, on poorer soils, the opposite it true: annual ryegrass roots sometimes go as deep as 60 inches over the winter, while cereal rye roots are much shallower.

Two theories. One, annual ryegrass roots seek nutrients and moisture. On the Berger farm, there was plenty of nutrients and moisture in the no-till soil, thus they didn’t need to work overtime to get nutrition. Secondly, he did the tests in early April, a couple weeks earlier than usual. Perhaps a couple more weeks of root growth would have added more root depth.

Another thing to consider in the next year…whether cover crops tend to do better after corn or soybeans. Corn is more demanding of nitrogen, and thus the amount of available nitrogen in the soil might impact the growth of a following cover crop, especially if nitrogen was not added.

Midwest Adoption of Cover Crops Varies From State to State

Incentives, Open Minds and Industry Integrity Are Helping Growth

In states like Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Indiana, adoption of cover crops has spread like good news. Nothing beats seeing firsthand how cover crops can cut costs, build soil, reduce pollution and boost production.

“In some states, financial incentives appear to be stimulating adoption,” said Oregon cover crop seed producer, Nick Bowers. “For example, farmers in Indiana are receiving up to $32/acre to plant cover crops,” Bowers said. “Incentives lower the risk, plain and simple.”

But in other states, cover crop adoption is slow, even stunted. “Information – sometimes too little and sometimes misleading – can impede adoption,” Bowers added. Without good information and supportive, experienced crop consultants, the transition to healthy new practices can be prolonged.

Take annual ryegrass for example. In some states, it’s the “go to” cover crop because of its low cost, deep rooting and nitrogen recycling capabilities. In other states, however, annual ryegrass is still confused with cereal rye. Others shy away because of winterkill stories or how easy it is to kill in the spring. “How can annual ryegrass succeed so well over a dozen years in one state and be so easily dismissed in others,” Bowers wondered.

Bowers is among a handful of Oregon seed growers who have committed to educating a farming public eager to learn about cover crops. The Oregon growers also help to fund research and public education. www.ryegrasscovercrop.com . They’re joined by crop consultants like Dan Towery and Mike Plumer, who have decades of experience as educators and crop consultants in Indiana and Illinois. Likewise, Midwest growers like Jamie Scott (IN) and Terry Taylor (IL) continue to present at conferences and host field days. “These people successfully demonstrate, year after year, that growing annual ryegrass is not difficult, but as with any crop, you have to pay attention to the management details,” Bowers said.

To propagate more use of annual ryegrass in states like Iowa, Ohio and Missouri, Bowers said that they’re working with select farmers who employ cover crops already. “Word of mouth has been the most reliable way to spread the word,” he said, “and nothing sells better than success stories.” From that exposure, certain soil scientists and crop consultants will become champions, and with that comes added encouragement from organizations like NRCS and county Soil and Water Conservation District staff.

Aside from educating the public and developing distribution points for seed in the Midwest, Oregon growers continue to develop hardy varieties of annual ryegrass to withstand harsh winters. “In this respect, we’re also trying to improve the consistent supply of those pure varieties…and not inadvertently have a batch in which less winter hardy seed is mixed.” Vast quantities of annual ryegrass is sent each year to southern states that don’t need winter hardy seed. “So, it’s important to make sure that the newer, hardy varieties aren’t grown in fields where less hardy crops were grown the previous year. In that way, the customer will know that what’s printed on the tag is exactly what they’re getting in the bag,” Bowers said.

“With the increases in cost of fuel and other inputs, cover crops will increasingly become an indispensable tool for profitable agriculture, and for a healthy environment,” Bowers said.

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