Digging In

Thursday, 26 September, 2019

Cover Crops: Extending the Life of the Soil

In the farming community “cover crop” is a buzzword, and for good reason. Adding a cover crop to your farm means you are extending the amount of time there is something growing in that soil and that adds many other benefits.

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Thursday, 19 September, 2019

Cover Crops: Where do I start?

Cover crops are an effective tool to improve soil health. Cover crops can reduce loss of excess nitrogen and phosphorus, reduce erosion, build up or recycle nutrients, assist with weed control and provide forage or grazing. However, implementing cover crops should not be taken lightly and requires lots of planning, adjusting and typically requires a total management shift and rethinking the entire cropping system.

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Tuesday, 17 September, 2019

TNC: Championing Conversations Between Non-Operating Landowners and Farmers

Non-operating landowners own a significant amount of farmland across the U.S., yet many of them are unaware of the conservation practices being implemented on their land. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is working alongside state commodity organizations to facilitate and champion more conversations between non-operating landowners and farmers to identify opportunities in soil health efforts.

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Thursday, 12 September, 2019

Cover Crops: Which one should I choose?

As harvest approaches, we also think about seeding cover crops, if we have not already. What type of cover crop seed you should use depends on your goals.  If your goal is to graze cattle on the cover to extend your grazing days, the seed you choose will be different than if you want to increase the weed control in next year’s crop.  Some cover crops are great at taking up excess nutrients that may be found in the field and others are great at breaking up heavily compacted areas of a field. These goals, as well as other factors, will help to determine the best species, or species mix, to use on your farm.

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