Benefits of Cover Crops
|  Video
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| Retha Colclasure |
| 8/5/2009 |
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| Every year, farmers try to get the best crop they can to grow above ground. More and more, farmers are realizing they can do that by concentrating on what they are growing below ground. One way to improve soil health and increase nutrients in the soil is by planting cover crops in the fall. Regan farmer Glenn Bauer tries to get the best crop possible, at the lowest price possible. "I hope we get 10 bushels an acre difference, but until we get it, we won`t know," Bauer says. "It looks like it could be 10 bushels better." He planted cover crops on part of this field last year, but left the other part without any. "If you don`t try something different, you aren`t trying anything different than your grandfather did," says Bauer. While he still has to wait a few weeks to harvest the crop, he says the half of the field with cover crops looks taller and thicker. That could mean more yield. "We know what it can do and has done in the past, but we don`t know how far we can go with whatever else we might be able to do," Bauer says. Even though seeding this field with cover crops does add some increased costs on the inputs, the increased yield will easily pay for it, and then some. Plus, Bauer suspects that the protein content will be better, as well. "If the protein is more, that makes the wheat worth more too, especially in a year like this one with higher prices for protein," says Bauer. It`s a gamble that appears to be paying off. Bauer was one of several farmers to show off his work as part of the annual Burleigh County Soil Conservation District`s soil health tour tonight. Farmers from all across the state and as far away as Canada came to look at different ways to manage their land. |
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