Joel Gruver WIU- Agriculture

J-gruver@wiu.edu (309) 298 1215

Cover crop innovation in Illinois

What is innovation?

The Ag Industry spends billions of $ each year on R&D

Millions of acres of sales are required to cover R&D costs

Intellectual property is aggressively

protected

Silver buckshot is a concept promoted by a collaboration of agencies and orgs called

GREEN LANDS BLUE WATERS

There are no silver bullet solutions that sustainably balance environmental quality with

productivity and profitability in agriculture!

A better strategy is . . .

silver buckshot!

Perennial-based

crop rotations

Perennial bio-energy crops Permanent pasture systems

Winter cover crops

Impact of the 2008 floods on IA soils

20 tons per acre average soil loss across 2,284,000 ac!

Conservation structures needing repair 12,157 Grassed Waterways

8,137 Terraces 3,375 Water and Sediment Control Basins

800 Grade Stabilization Structures

Fields with combinations of two or more conservation practices (e.g., no-till + cover crops) performed much

better than fields with a single practice

"Farmers are not to blame," said University of Illinois researcher Mark David. "They are using the same amount of nitrogen as they were 30 years ago and getting much higher corn yields, but we

have created a very leaky agricultural system. This allows nitrate to move quickly from fields into

ditches and on to the Gulf of Mexico. We need policies that reward farmers to help correct the

problem."

REDUCTION POTENTIAL

combine summer annuals with winter annuals

Drainage practices should be combined with other practices that reduce leaching

Reduce N rate by 25 lbs/a

Right source Right rate Right time Right place

Go

od

co

nce

pt W

hat’s

missin

g?

Right source Right rate Right time Right place

Bar

e fa

llow

Kaspar et al. J. Environ. Qual. 36:1503-1511

The science is clear - cover crops can reduce nitrate leaching at lower cost than most other practices!

…while also improving soil

health

CROP SOD

Same soil type and landscape position

Students in my Soil Properties class are each analyzing paired soils from their farms

A recent survey by Farm Futures

magazine of more than 1,000 farmers found those on the

cutting edge of conservation were

actually more profitable than other farmers.

In short, it is

possible to be both green and gold!

adopt ≠ adapt

Do you know any early adopters?

Do you know any master adapters?

Farmers that make cover crops work tend to be master adapters!

Haphazard cover cropping

What am I supposed to do

now?

“What cover crop should I plant ???”

Very common question received by CC seed vendors in early fall

Well… what do you want your cover

crop to do for you?

What needs to be adjusted to find the best fit?

Where are the best places for cover crops on your farm?

When is the best time for establishment and termination?

Are you familiar with the term Precision Conservation?

Start planning today! • Anticipate planting windows

• Match objectives with species

• Confirm seed availability

• Make sure seeding equipment is ready

• Identify realistic termination methods

• Allocate labor

• Develop contingency plans

NEW IL Cover Crop

Decision Tool

Peer-reviewed publications about CC in IL

Opportunities for planting cover crops • Dormant seeding early or late winter

• Frost seeding • In the spring

• When planting summer crops • Prevent plant scenarios

• While sidedressing • After small grains • After vegetables

• After seed corn or silage corn • Aerial or high clearance seeding into standing crops in late

summer/early fall • After early corn/bean grain harvest

• After full season corn/bean grain harvest

Cover crops should not be viewed as the missing puzzle piece(s) in current cropping systems!

Grazing brassicas, clovers, small grains, a. ryegrass, sorghum-sudan

Nutrient scavenging/cycling brassicas, small grains, annual ryegrass

Bio-drilling brassicas, sugarbeet, sunflower,

sorghum-sudan sweet clover, alfalfa

N-fixation clovers, vetches, lentil, winter pea, chickling vetch, sun hemp, cowpea, soybean

Bio-activation/fumigation brassicas, sorghum-sudan, sun hemp, sesame

Weed suppression brassicas, sorghum-sudan, cereal rye, buckwheat

GRAZING = #1 way to make cover crops pay!

Match CC objectives with species

Oats, turnips and cereal rye

• Cover crops (winter or summer) can provide high-

quality forage and increase economic return and farm diversity, but some farmers have been reluctant to take this advantage due to perceived “compaction” caused

by animal trampling.

• Grazing of cover crops can compact soil, but not to the detrimental levels often perceived.

Franzluebbers AJ and JA Stuedemann. 2008. Soil physical responses to cattle grazing cover crops under

conventional and no tillage in the Southern Piedmont USA.

Soil and Tillage Research 100, 141-153.

www.cheneylakewatershed.org/newsletter/2008-Fall.pdf

Radish Roots at ~ 40”

after 45 days

Crop root density as affected by preceding cover crop

Chen and Weil (2006)

• much less top growth but deeper roots than cereal rye • much less winter hardy than cereal rye • can be difficult to kill • can be a serious weed in small grains

Radishes are not the only good bio-driller!!

Cover Crops

Adapted from Magdoff and Weil (2004)

CCs affect many agronomic factors simultaneously

Feed livestock

Control erosion

? ?

Increase management

Host pests

Become a weed

Prevent soil drying

Dry out soil excessively

Interfere w/ equipment

performance Suppress crop

growth

Tie up N

Add cost

Cover Crops

Adapted from Magdoff and Weil (2004)

Not all effects are positive

Reduce Risk • Enroll in programs that pay you to plant CCs

• Use time tested CC methods • Use more than one method of planting CCs

• Plant mixtures/cocktails • Grow some crops e.g. small grains, vegetables, corn silage,

shorter season hybrids/varieties that are harvested early • Plan residual herbicide programs carefully

• Scout for insect pests that are attracted to residue • Irrigate

The

most tried and true cover cropping system in

the Midwest region

Frost seeded red clover

Traditional cover cropping in the Midwest

There are lots of options after small grain harvest

Drilling CC after corn/bean harvest is a good option for a limited # of acres!

There are many options other than drilling

Use precision planting

Precision planted radishes at the WIU Organic research farm

Precision planted cover crops in Indiana

Annual ryegrass & radishes aerial seeded into soybeans at leaf drop.

Aerial seeding is fast and relatively cheap but more sensitive to weather

Set-up for efficient aerial seeding in SE IA

Steve Nebel

Steve Nebel

25-50% YELLOW

Steve Nebel

25-50% LIGHT PENETRATION

IA and IL Aerial Applicator Survey (May-June 2010)

Name Location Experience w/CC Cost

Cady Aerial Spray Rock Falls, IL

no exp., no customer

interest $8.00/a norm app $8.50/a cc

Benoit Aerial

Spraying Kankakee, IL turnips and rye $8.00/a norm app $10.00/a cc

Franks Flying

Service Morrison, IL ryegrass and c. rye $8.00/a norm app $10.00/a cc

Reeds Fly-on

Farming Mattoon, IL

yes, c. rye, small part

of business $8.00/a norm app $12.00/a cc

Killiam Flying

Service Carlinville, IL

rye, wheat on beans,

rye on corn $8.00/a norm app $10.00/ac

or 10/lb

Curless Flying

Service Astoria, IL ryegrass and turnips $8-15.00/a all app.

Klein Flying

Service

St. Francisville,

IL annual rye and turnips ~$12.50/a cc,

$9.00/a liquid app

Agriflite Services Wakarusa, IN rye, wheat, ryegrass ave $15.00/a for cc app.

Al's Aerial

Spraying Ovid, MI rye and wheat $10-15.00/a cc

$10.00/a liquid

Optimize fertility • Inoculate legumes

• Inoculate non-legumes?

• Fertilize cover crops when

residual fertility is low

Hairy Vetch 3,260 lbs of DM/ac

141 lbs of N/ac

133 lbs of K/ac

18 lbs of P/ac

52 lbs of Ca/ac

18 lbs of Mg/ac

+20 lbs N/a

Learn from cover crop innovators • Attend field days/host a field day

• Attend conferences

• Participate in internet forums

Field day at Steve Groff’s farm

Subject Replies Views

> 100 threads and > 200,000 views in 2011

A Wheat-Corn-Bean rotation with "tillage" done via RADISHES (!!) into the wheat stubble every third year! All done with a single 60 ft 30" planter, RTK and one 60ft toolbar. Fertilizer

efficiency is very good with banding, split application and no fall losses.

I came away from there thinking I have seen the future of

production agriculture, at least in some areas.

Sorry to go on so long but this was a very interesting day. The field of tillage radishes was incredible. The size of those

things does really seem to break up the soil at least as deep as many tillage tools.

I think this may be the future for many folks and Joel, Steve, Ed

8625 views!!

Joe Rothermel’s new rig

Cover crops planted with insecticide boxes while stripping

One day, in the mid-1980s, Upton got a magnified view of his soil’s limitations. While tearing out a fence, Upton noticed plenty of moisture in the soil about three feet down. Above it sat a compacted layer of soil through which no roots were growing. Upton had a visible confirmation of why, during dry years, the shallow-rooted crops dried up even though there was plenty of water stored in the soil below.

Ralph “Junior” Upton Springerton, Illinois 1,800 acres of no-till corn, beans and wheat & annual ryegrass, cereal rye and hairy vetch cover crops Problem Addressed Difficult soil characteristics. Ralph “Junior” Upton farms poorly drained land characterized by an impenetrable layer, or “plow pan,” six to eight inches deep that crop roots typically can’t grow through.

“I began looking for a way to break up that plow pan so my crops could get to the moisture they needed”

~ 120 profiles since 2008

Learn from research On-farm research

• Leave check strips - replicate if possible

• Work with universities/NRCS

Research station trials

• Make suggestions

• Pay attention to results

Cover crop system Relative

corn yield

Volunteer oats 79%

Radishes planted on 30” 99%

Radishes drilled on 7.5” 91%

Corn following cover crop experiment in 2011

Corn planted on radish rows

Early July 2009

Organic No-till research at the Allison Farm

Soybeans drilled after rolling 5’ tall cereal rye

Early August 2009

Early November 2009

Plot yields ranged from 51.6 to 58.6 bu/ac

No significant differences between NT, CT and bio-strip-till systems

November 2011

Have you considered this option for combating herbicide resistance!

Soybean health experiment – 6 locations across IL

Mustard Rapeseed

Canola Cereal rye Cereal rye

November 2010

Soybeans no-till drilled into cereal rye were the top yielder in 2011

incorporated pre-plant

no-till

Beware of hype!

Cover crops are not a silver bullet

solution to any problem!!!

Be realistic about potential CC challenges

but optimistic about real opportunities