I found this interesting

Kimmsr

11 years ago

A rather interesting article about nitrates in water and the source.

Here is a link that might be useful: nitrates in water

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User

11 years ago

"A field too wet from snow melt or spring rain is trying to tell the farmer it is too compacted and needs organic matter."

That's not how that works.

"Most every grower I have encountered discs those fields prior to planting the cash crop and that will effectively put the cover crop into the soil"

...and some growers don't even own this equipment because they only disc their fields every 2-6 years because of how they no-till...which is usually involves chemicals (which your opinion of it's "stupidity" carries no weight in the reality of it actually happening). How do you think all this no-till that's been building up OM in the fields the past 15+ years has been happening? You may not like how it's being done, but it's a side effect of the process.

A lot more farmers these days are renting equipment rather than storing and maintaining equipment they're only using a handful of times every couple years...things have changed since the 1990s.

"For some growers the cost benefit ratio is not well understood, but some studies show that, over time, yields increase enough to offset the costs of growing a cover crop."

The farmer understands his/her finances as well, or better, than anything they're doing in their fields. This is very important.

...all of this is happening and it's not because farmers can't do math, can't read, can't understand logic, or don't understand their own land.

If you want to change it, fine...good luck...but not liking it doesn't mean people have no idea what they're doing or it's not even happening.

I'm just trying (and others) to shed some light on why there's such small adoption rate of the article/issue you brought up. Pretending it's not happening or 90%+ of those farmers are blundering idiots doesn't explain anything.

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Comments (7)

User
11 years ago
In that part of the country a cover crop can be costly (monetarily), and unharvestable before it's time to put corn/soy into the ground for some farmers.

You're going to need some kind of subsidy or penalty to push the issue.

A lot would love to do it, but it's a lot of work to either lose money or make very little...heck, some don't even have the equipment for dealing with a winter crop. Others won't do it until their lands start to show signs of becoming eroded.

It's something a lot of people know about and want, but few want to pay for dealing with 10,000 - 100,000+ acres of managing it.
Kimmsr
Original Author
11 years ago
Any "farmer" would have all of the equipment necessary to plant a cover crop and since cover crops are not harvested, in the sense that the grain heads are reaped, but are instead turned in to the soil planting of the summer crop is not an issue. There is some research out there that indicates that the Nitrogen a cover crop helps hold more than offsets the cost of the cover crop.
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User
11 years ago
A lot of this is grown no-till and a cover crop for many is just planting weeds as far as how it's going to be dealt with.

...and yes, some don't have the equipment to deal with it unless you want them to drag their sprayers through the fields killing a massive mat of everything before planting...which involves a good bit of cost for more than just the herbicide.

Beyond all this, the biggest hold-up is cost. I know you may have read something that says otherwise, but out there in the real world that's why this is happening. It's not laziness, or some political belief, or anything like that...it's cost.

A lot of famers aren't going to go through the headache and cost without penalty or incentive as long as their land is healthy enough to bring a crop in.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Fri, Feb 6, 15 at 8:55
Lloyd
11 years ago
By the time I pay for the seed, fuel, equipment time and depreciation, manpower, I'm not sure if there would be much of a saving in the long run. I'm also not sure if there would be the time available to do it some years. Maybe on a limited scale it might be feasible. Interesting line in the linked story..."joined a government-funded effort". (my bold)

Lloyd
ferroplasm Zone 7b
11 years ago
Another problem is soil moisture. Often fields are very wet early in the spring after snow melt. If the field is too wet, farmers can't get equipment in to crimp, plow, or spray the cover crop.
Kimmsr
Original Author
11 years ago
If the field is too wet to "crimp, p0low, or spray" the cover crop it would be too wet to plant anything as well. A field too wet from snow melt or spring rain is trying to tell the farmer it is too compacted and needs organic matter.
"A lot of this is grown no-till and a cover crop for many is just planting weeds as far as how it's going to be dealt with." a Gross misunderstanding of what a cover crop is and does. Spraying a plant poison on a cover crop to kill it is about the dumbest thing anyone could do. Most every grower I have encountered discs those fields prior to planting the cash crop and that will effectively put the cover crop into the soil, but then a grower could crimp the cover crop and have a mulch as has been demonstrated as being very effective numerous times.
For some growers the cost benefit ratio is not well understood, but some studies show that, over time, yields increase enough to offset the costs of growing a cover crop.