I shared this presentation at the 2014 Organic Conference in La Crosse, WI

1. Precision Cover Cropping
for organic farms
Joel Gruver
WIU- Agriculture
j-gruver@wiu.edu
(309) 298 1215

2. Are you using precision ag technologies?

3. Attention to detail
is key to success in
all types of farming

4. Have you ever had a bird’s eye view of your farm?

5. Whatever skill level you bring to the table
can be augmented by GPS guidance technology

6. No-tilling soybeans into 5-6’ tall cereal rye

7. Undercutting small grain stubble prior
to planting summer CCs (2 passes w/ 15” offset)

8. Fallow strip
Cover crop cocktail
no-till drilled after
undercutting

9. Triple S mix
Sunflowers, Soybeans & Sunnhemp

10. Dad… just think
what we can do
with RTK guidance
on this farm!

11. Are you familiar with the term
Precision Conservation?
organic farming
cover cropping

13. What is PRECISION COVER CROPPING???
1) Selection and management of cover crops to
achieve specific objectives
2) Strategic placement of cover crops in specific
fields or parts of fields
3) Planting of cover crops with a precision planter
4) strategic placement of cover crop rows in relation
to other cover cover rows and/or the following cash
crop rows (often using GPS guidance)

14. Compaction alleviation
Erosion reduction
Weed control
Increased yields
Nitrogen source
Higher
priorities
for organic
farmers?
2012 – SARE
Survey Results

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

16. Termination???
Establishment
Time/labor requirements
Species selection
2012 – SARE
Survey Results

18. The information is based on the best judgment of the
farmer/industry/agency/academic experts from around
the state who participated in customizing the tool.

21. cash
crop
season

25. Other attributes

26. #1 way to
make cover
crops pay

27. 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.
• Cover crops (winter or summer) can provide highquality 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.

28. www.weather.com/outdoors/agriculture/growing-degree-days/

29. Growing Degree Days - Aledo, IL
( date -> 12/31, base 40)
Relative
GDD
LT
Average
2011
2012
Aug 1
100%
2107
2209
2317
Aug 15
78%
1653
1739
1813
Sept 1
53%
1125
1180
1253
Sept 15
35%
745
766
865
Oct 1
19%
409
490
600
Oct 15
10%
202
338
307
Nov 1
2%
43
150
166
There is substantial variation between years.
**If fall growth is key, plant before 9/1**

30. The new version of
Green Cover Seed’s
Smart Mix Calculator will
include a GDD calculator

32. More farmer friendly
technologies are needed

33. http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/34720/pnw636.pdf
New publication
We have made some progress in predicting plant available N

34. Targeted planting of cover crops may be
able to substitute for conservation
structures
How many of you have
grassed waterways (or
other conservation
structures) on your farm?
Targeted planting of cover crops should
be able to increase the performance of
conservation structures

35. Cover crops can provide
beneficial insect habitat
along field borders

37. 3 way mixtures along a
field border

38. Cover crop cocktail
containing rapeseed, radish,
sunflower, buckwheat, corn
and soybeans drilled into a
drown-out area

41. Aerial application can
target specific parts of
fields or adjust the rate of
application across fields.

43. The row-bot can
be used to seed
cover crops one
row at a time.
The maximum
payload of 400 lbs
= cover crop seed
for many acres.

44. This is how I did interseeding
with rye and radishes this year.
It took about 5 hrs to cover 15
acres of standing 36" corn.
Wasn't able to get a plane so
this is what I came up with. It
worked really well surprisingly. I
will be buying a high boy to
convert next year to do cover
crop seeding and spraying with.
NRCS dead line is Sept 15 so I
had to just get it done this year.
Had one close encounter with a
coyote but he was moving pretty
quick.

45. “I had a hat, safety glasses, full face shield, gloves, long
sleeve shirt with a regular t-shirt over it, jeans and boots.
Only skin showing was on the back of my neck. This is a
buyers seeder had a flow control valve on the bottom and
I could turn the spinner on and off on the bike. I pretty
well kept moving and would stop very few rows to fill. Had
my dad running around on the ranger with seed, water,
rags and gas. We pre-measured an acre at a time he had
it ready when I would get to the end row. I could spread 7
but I overlapped one on each side my goal was 35lbs an
acre rye and 2lbs an acre radishes. So I went about every
5-6 rows. Speed wasn't a problem since I stayed in 1st
gear and pretty consistent. After the first 2 loads we had it
pretty dialed in.”

46. Opportunities for planting cover crops
• Dormant seeding early or late winter
• Frost seeding
• When planting summer crops
• Prevent plant scenarios
• After weed-free window
• 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

49. Clean corn
through the rest of the season
= missed opportunity

51. Durivage Farm
Ontario, CA

54. Durivage Farm
Ontario, CA

55. Zumbrun Farm
Northern Indiana
http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=338536

56. “I broadcast 10 lbs/acre of crimson clover at
sidedress time (6/6/12). We got essentially no rain
from the first week of May until the last week of
July. I figured the clover wouldn't grow, but it laid
there until we got rain and by harvest we had a
nice stand.
I'm not sure how this would work in a 'normal'
year, but it sure worked good this year. I left some
check strips and the clover didn't affect the yield.
The seeder was just an old 12V spinner seeder I
clamped onto our N toolbar”

57. I wonder how well
this crimson clover
over-wintered?

58. Precision planting

59. http://www.extension.org/pages/64400/radishes-a-new-cover-crop-for-organic-farming-systems

60. Attempt #1
September 2008

61. Attempt #2

62. Attempt #3
Radish planted on 30” rows using
small milo plates in mid-August 2010

63. Attempt #4
Corn following cover crop experiment (2011)
Cover crop system
Volunteer oats
Radishes planted on 30”
Radishes drilled on 7.5”
Relative
corn yield
79% b
99% a
91% a
Corn planted over radish rows w/o GPS guidance

64. Radishes in fall 2011
Attempt #5

65. May 2012
+20 bu/a corn in plots
w/ fall cultivation of radish
vs. no fall cultivation

66. Radish planted on 30” rows with RTK guidance on August 29th
right before Hurricane Isaac rolled in
Attempt #6

67. 4 days later

69. 10 days after planting

70. ~ 1 month later

71. Why are the inter-rows so clean?

72. We had just cultivated the radishes!

73. ~ 2 weeks later

75. December 2012

76. Precision radishes w/o peas
Precision planted radishes w/ peas from 5 ft of row

77. What is the optimal population
for precision planted radishes?
The full seeding rate (~ 11 lbs per acre,
~16 seeds per foot) ended up producing
the most root and shoot biomass

79. Planting corn was a real
struggle due to the extreme
wetness in spring 2013
We seriously considered abandoning our
controlled traffic plans but ended up
prepping the field for planting with
a high residue cultivator.
Planting into weedy ridges fully tested our 4 row ridge-till
planter but we ended up with 20 – 28K across the field

81. Yields ranged from ~160 to ~ 190
bu/acre with no significant
differences between treatments

82. We are encouraged to
continue with our strategic
row placement research

84. Crimson
clover
Green
lentils
Chick
peas
Fava
beans

85. Sunflower
Rapeseed
Oats
Phacelia

88. Planted with a drill in late September 2012
Radish
Cereal
Rye
Radish
Radish
Cereal
Rye

89. Fall 2013
Attempt #7

90. ?
?

91. ----- Original Message ----From: "Thomas Björkman" <tnb1@CORNELL.EDU>
To: MCCC@LIST.MSU.EDU
Sent: Saturday, March 1, 2014 6:58:34 AM
Subject: Re: : winter hardiness of winter lentil and common vetch
Fast-growing in the fall and winter-hardy may be a difficult
combination to obtain.
For many fall-established annual and biennial species, it is only
the seedling that will harden off well. Once the plant begins to
grow, the ability to harden is much reduced. As a rule of thumb, to
get maximum hardiness the seedling should be large enough that
the root is anchored against frost heaving, but not so big that the
stem is growing.
A couple of familiar examples; Winter-hardy small grains make
more stems in the fall but they do not grow; winter hardy crucifers
remain rosettes (no stem enlargement), but make more leaves.

92. A little extra N can make a big difference
+20 lbs N/a

93. Preceded by spring
planted radish :-<
Moisture
depletion by
CCs had a high
price in 2012

94. Why is there rapeseed on the edge of this bean field?

95. Insecticide boxes can be used for metering small seeds

96. Joe Rothermel’s new rig

97. Cover crops planted with insecticide
boxes while stripping

98. April 2012

99. Soybeans double drilled with 4” offset

100. Over a month with almost no growth

101. NT bean yields ranged from ~ 30 to ~ 60 bu/a

102. Greater precision in your cover
cropping practices should increase the
likelihood of intended outcomes
More positive and fewer negative effects

103. This is what we were hoping for!

104. This is what we ended up with :-<

105. I wish you all success in 2014!