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Regenerative agriculture & conservation videos...

Sligh1

Sligh1

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I’ll post these as I watch them. At least interesting - especially if u have interest in these topics. From a young age i would consider myself to be an “environmental nut”. I would classify myself now as a Conservative Conservationist if I was just throwing a term out there. Anything from soil building/biology, stopping erosion, tree planting, crp, cover crops, sustainable ag (or better than sustainable), leaving farm better than found, improving farm income ideas, etc.
I’ll post some interesting ones here. Some u might like, some not. Might put a few to sleep but I bet some of these get folks thinking.....
Here’s one far from home!! Not quite iowa. Principles can always overlap though- even from deserts to iowa.




 
this is a short basic one on rebuilding top soil. Pretty simple & covers some basic bullet points that are very important.
 
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Keep ‘em comin’. Brown’s book, Dirt to Soil just arrived and I’m looking forward to diving in. :).


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Similar to one a couple up. But part of a series. Longer but good. Would need to listen on drive or lazy day in office.
 
You guys who have a working crop farm… do you use cover crops? If so, what do you use between your rotations?


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chadw said:
You guys who have a working crop farm… do you use cover crops? If so, what do you use between your rotations?


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My farms….
actually the dbltree cereal rye mix works great. It’s overkill expensive on big scale so I dial it back on crop fields.
every year is different….. crops out early or late….
rye mixes with peas, some clovers, etc.
compacted soils or rotation of CC …. Brassica blend (radish is main one). If it’s for AG, lower rate of Radish & a blend that changes based on lot of variables…. Could add bit of rye or triticale & some clovers + couple more things depending on goals.

let’s make it Simple….. more species in a CC blend FOR AG - is better. But- doing even one thing is HUGE & not utilized by most (as of now)…
IMO- main tools in arsenal for CC’s …. Rye, brassicas & clovers. Start there. that will keep a guy busy & be a learning process right there alone.
Later on…. If getting more into it- can look into millet, sorghums, vetch, etc etc etc.
 
Sligh1 said:
My farms….
actually the dbltree cereal rye mix works great. It’s overkill expensive on big scale so I dial it back on crop fields.
every year is different….. crops out early or late….
rye mixes with peas, some clovers, etc.
compacted soils or rotation of CC …. Brassica blend (radish is main one). If it’s for AG, lower rate of Radish & a blend that changes based on lot of variables…. Could add bit of rye or triticale & some clovers + couple more things depending on goals.

let’s make it Simple….. more species in a CC blend FOR AG - is better. But- doing even one thing is HUGE & not utilized by most (as of now)…
IMO- main tools in arsenal for CC’s …. Rye, brassicas & clovers. Start there. that will keep a guy busy & be a learning process right there alone.
Later on…. If getting more into it- can look into millet, sorghums, vetch, etc etc etc.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Skip! Have you had any issue with nitrogen scavenger doing rye CC before corn? Has CC lowered your fertilizer bill at all?


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chadw said:
Thanks, Skip! Have you had any issue with nitrogen scavenger doing rye CC before corn? Has CC lowered your fertilizer bill at all?


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Killing off right time is needed. Adding more N is required. ***Unless lots of clovers in it!!!
Long term it could lower N bill some but be a while. On newer stuff. Long story. ****but when I do clover, etc, different game on N cost now.

Mixed cover crops will usually reduce P&K costs by HUGE AMOUNTS done properly.
 
Go to ur tv or fire stick or whatever u use… maybe YouTube.
but find:
“Great Plains: America’s lingering wild”
It’s PBS, 2 episodes. It’s good. It’s very different. Will be eye opening even though we live in “the Great Plains”. I do not agree with all of it- for sure!- but that’s not the point. It does have several portions of it & it’s incredible - especially for folks with our interests….
 
I've been playing with CC for several years. Without going through all my experiences, here's my conclusions, and I'll add that the NRCS staff I work with agree with me. Drilling cereal(winter) rye into soybean stubble is the most reliable. Planting corn into rye the next year can be problematic, some years more than others. Like Sligh said, timely termination of the rye is key. And there's the whole problem. If you want to plant corn early to get the best yield, you have to kill the rye before it grows enough in the spring to do the soil much good. Drilling rye into cornstalks is harder to do. You need a very good no-till drill and the rye doesn't get as much time to grow in the fall. But you can plant soybeans into rye the next year with little to no yield drag and terminate the rye later. Even 2 extra weeks of rye growth in the spring yields MUCH more soil benefits. That's the route I've taken and continue to use. That means I have no cover crop on half my acres every year. There's only one way I can see for cover crop use to explode in agriculture. That's for a 3 year rotation of corn, beans, small grain to replace our current 2 crop rotation of corn and beans. That means a ready market for small grains needs to develop. Then the options explode to plant a mix of everything after a small grain harvest in July. You could plant a mix for nitrogen or a mix for soil compaction reduction or a mix for grazing livestock. Cereal rye can be great livestock feed but needs to be handled with the same care we give to corn and beans. Some years it may need to be run through a dryer, it doesn't dry down as well as oats or wheat. But right now the only market for rye is as next years seed. If Pioneer or Dekalb or any big seed company would put a fraction of the money they spend on corn and beans into rye seed we would have a rye that would be easier to grow and market like we do corn. Trying to pay farmers to use some covers will not be a recipe for long term and widespread use. It must be driven by economics. I'm not a proponent of gov't programs. Most are very short sighted. They should rather be subsidizing end users to buy small grains and developing that market than paying farmers to grow something with no market. Prime the pump so speak. Then farmers would see the value and plant to make the most money. Water quality would improve, soil erosion would improve, fertilizer use would decline, and it would be economically sustainable!! Sorry to ramble but you asked.
 
Driving east of Solon last night, there was a big baler twisting up a field that had huge windrows of something that was very long stemmed. I was flying down the road, didn't have time to take much of a look. One tractor baling, two tractors with bale spears moving the bales off the field, a huge JD tractor with the folded up bean planter parked just waiting to hit the field once it was cleared. Seemed a little late in the year, but the July 15 crop insurance deadline is looming, plus rain in the forecast.

I get a couple of farm related magazines that do a state round up by area. One farmer mentioned they were going to wait to plant soybeans after harvesting rye for grain. Again, seems to be pushing the timeline. We usually terminate our CC at planting time. CC's can be hit and miss as mentioned, depending on time of harvest and weather. With HEL, looking at soil stabilization along with nutrient sequestration.

I doubt that there will be much of a local market for small grains since there are huge regions out in the western plains that are only suited to raising those crops. Hard to compete with those guys. Maybe find a neighbor who grinds feed, they might want it. I don't think there are issues with keeping the small grains for future cover crops. Try that with corn or soybeans and the big seed corporations are burning down your fields.
 
www.agupdate.com

Oats again popular as grain, cover crop

PALO, Iowa — Oats certainly aren’t a new crop to Iowa soils, but the small grain crop is seeing a comeback of sorts in the state.
www.agupdate.com www.agupdate.com

Got the current issue of Iowa Farmer Today after my previous post and it had this article. There were a couple of other interesting articles.


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Link to the current issue. Crimping cover crops caught my eye, interseeding cover crops, wildlife/PF article.

www.agupdate.com

Page 001

View the Iowa Farmer Today NE for Saturday, July 10, 2021
www.agupdate.com www.agupdate.com


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