Cover crops improve soil health and boost farm profits; so why isn’t everyone doing it?
Grant Breitkreutz taps the side of his head when he answers. “It’s a change in mindset,” he said.
“We’ve been farming a certain way for four, five generations and we’ve been taught to do things a certain way.”
Grant and his wife, Dawn, have used cover crops on their Redwood Falls farm for 20 years, and they shared their experiences last week in Luverne.
They told a group of farmers and ag leaders Feb. 28 in Pizza Ranch that their process was slow, but in time they adapted to cover crops on 100 percent of their ground, that includes both pasture and row crops.
The meeting included ag producers who have been dabbling in cover crops and were there for an information exchange.
“I’m just here to learn,” said Bill Tilstra, who has been using cover crops on his Steen farm at the Iowa border where the practice benefits his 200 cow-calf herd and sheep.
“It’s worth it,” Tilstra said. “I’m sold on it; there are no drawbacks, and we’re looking to increase the number of acres we put cover crops on.”
Also in the audience Thursday were agribusiness people like Justin Decker, Hardwick, a salesman for Rob-See-Co.
“It’s about keeping nutrients in the soil where they can be used by the crop, as opposed to letting it run off or run through the tiles to the river,” said Decker, who is also a member of the local Cover Crop Advisory Board.
He said the practice is garnering attention because the farmers who use cover crops report that they’re spending a lot less money on fertilizer and herbicide and their yields are improving.
Plus, livestock get the added benefit of grazing the nutritious cover crops while allowing pastures more time to regenerate.
Also at the table Thursday were conservation professionals like Lance Wheeler, engineering technician for the Rock County Land Management Office.
His work is typically involved in soil conservation measures like terraces, buffers, basins and others, but he said cover crops offer the best protection against soil erosion.
When asked if cover crops will someday be the norm, Wheeler said, “I hope so.”
He points to weather extremes as the biggest selling point. “It’s going to be harder to farm if the crop ground continues to erode the way it has,” Wheeler said.
“Every producer that’s using cover crops wishes they would have done it sooner.”
What are cover crops and how can they help my operation?
Cover crops — often small grains like oats, wheat or rye — are planted to manage soil erosion, soil fertility, soil quality, moisture, weeds, pests, diseases, and wildlife.
Cover crops are typically an off-season crop planted after harvesting a cash crop like corn and soybeans and it often grows over the winter.
The benefits are proven — fewer inputs and higher yields — but the conversion to cover crops is a bit complicated, because cover crops can’t be planted in soil that was treated the previous season with herbicides. And soil has to be weaned gradually from commercial fertilizer.
‘Mother Nature doesn’t like to be naked’
It takes three to five years to get the true benefits of cover crops, and the transition years are awkward, because there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to incorporating cover crops.
That’s why the Cover Crop Advisory Board has been organizing small group meetings to share information.
In addition to Decker, that Rock County group includes Tom Fick, Brent Fluit, Brad Petersen, Terry Aukes and Doug Bos.
The more the information gets out about cover crops, the easier it is to see the benefits, Grant Breitkreutz said.
In addition to improved soil health and increased yields, he said less machinery is necessary, fewer chemicals are used, there’s less dependence on expensive seed technology and wildlife population increases.
Plus, he said with a sly grin, it keeps the neighbors guessing. “Our farm sticks out like a sore thumb on aerial photos,” Grant said
“Actually, it sticks out like a green thumb,” Dawn said, referring to green sprouts coming through stubble in the early spring when everything else is still brown.
And cover crops remain in the rows when corn and soybeans emerge, making the field look weedy. In fact, the cover crops suppress weeds, reducing reliance on herbicides.
“They keep the ground covered,” Grant said. “Mother Nature doesn’t like to be naked, so if the cover crop isn’t there, the weeds will come.”
Understanding all this helps with the mindset shift from the decades-old tradition of green rows in black dirt.
“We’re thinking about making signs for our fields that say, ‘It’s supposed to look this way; it’s a cover crop,” said Jerry Stephens of Luverne’s Express Ag.
His business is involved with selling chemicals to farmers, and he shared at Thursday’s meeting that ag businesses like his need to adapt just as farmers are.
“Some of our farming practices are not sustainable,” Stephens said.
He joked about cover crops putting him out of the ag chemical business, because healthy microbial activity from cover crops reduces the need for commercial fertilizer and chemical herbicides
“If you do things ethically, legally, responsibly … the question is ‘How do we do things the right way so we can continue to operate?” Stephens said.
“That’s what drew me here to today.”
Path to soil health
Soil regeneration has become such a way of life for the Breitkreutzes that traditional farming methods seem archaic. “It hurts me to see it now,” Dawn said about bare soil in tilled fields.
The couple recently were featured in a documentary, “Farmer’s Footprint: A path to soil health and food independence,” that can be streamed at farmersfootprint.us.
The film follows several farmers in a grassroots movement to regenerate 5 million acres of farmland by 2025. It draws a connection between soil health and human health as modern food production relies less on chemicals and more on natural methods like cover crops.
“The greatest part of this regenerative movement is that those involved are so passionate about how important this is, there are no big secrets or competitions,” Dawn said.
“We realize that our farming model needs to change for the world's survival into the future. Once things change in the soil, it's impossible to not be excited about growing that change around the world.”
Planning meeting for cover crops set for March 14
The transition to cover crop rotation isn’t simple and the returns aren’t immediate, and even the most successful cover crop producers don’t have a blueprint for implementing the practice.
That’s why local farmers are leaning on each other and on veteran cover crop farmers for advice, information and an exchange of information.
Thursday’s meeting was about sharing ideas. The next meeting on March 14 will be about putting the information into practice.
The planning meeting from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Pizza Ranch will be a work session to put together a plan. The meeting will be an opportunity to:
•Determine needs and set goals for using cover crops.
•Consider cover crop options and seeding options.
•Plan herbicide and tillage options.
•Generate maps and develop a plan of action.
Local cover crop farmers will again exchange information about what’s worked for them.
Call the Land Management Office, 507-283-8862, to RSVP in order to determine lunch numbers.