This is a slightly modified version of the presentation that I shared at the AgMasters conference in Champaign IL on 11/27/2012

1. Cover crop innovation
in Illinois
Joel Gruver
WIU- Agriculture
J-gruver@wiu.edu
(309) 298 1215

2. What is
innovation?

3. The Ag Industry
spends billions of $
each year on R&D

4. Millions of acres of sales are required to cover R&D costs

5. Intellectual
property is aggressively
protected

7. There are no silver bullet solutions that
sustainably balance environmental quality with
productivity and profitability in agriculture!
A better silver
strategy is . . . buckshot!
Silver buckshot is a concept promoted by
a collaboration of agencies and orgs called
GREEN LANDS BLUE WATERS

8. Winter cover crops
Perennial-based
crop rotations
Permanent pasture systems Perennial bio-energy crops

9. Impact of the 2008 floods on IA soils
20 tons per acre average soil loss across 2,284,000 ac!
Conservation structures needing repair
12,157 Grassed Waterways
8,137 Terraces
3,375 Water and Sediment Control Basins
800 Grade Stabilization Structures
Fields with combinations of two or more conservation
practices (e.g., no-till + cover crops) performed much
better than fields with a single practice

10. "Farmers are not to blame," said University of
Illinois researcher Mark David. "They are using the
same amount of nitrogen as they were 30 years
ago and getting much higher corn yields, but we
have created a very leaky agricultural system.
This allows nitrate to move quickly from fields into
ditches and on to the Gulf of Mexico. We need
policies that reward farmers to help correct the
problem."

11. Drainage practices should be combined
with other practices that reduce leaching
REDUCTION POTENTIAL
Reduce N rate by 25 lbs/a
combine summer annuals with winter annuals

12. Right source
missing?
concept
What’s
Good Right rate
Right time
Right place

13. Right source
Right rate
Right time
Right place

14. The science is clear - cover crops can reduce nitrate leaching
at lower cost than most other practices!
Bare fallow
Kaspar et al. J. Environ. Qual. 36:1503-1511

15. …while also
improving soil
health

16. Same soil type
and landscape position
CROP SOD
Students in my Soil Properties class are each
analyzing paired soils from their farms

17. A recent survey by
Farm Futures
magazine of more
than 1,000 farmers
found those on the
cutting edge of
conservation were
actually more
profitable than
other farmers.
In short, it is
possible to be both
green and gold!

19. Do you know any early adopters?
adopt ≠ adapt
Do you know any master adapters?
Farmers that make cover crops work tend to
be master adapters!

21. Haphazard
cover cropping

22. What am I
supposed to do
now?

23. Very common question received
by CC seed vendors in early fall
“What cover
crop should
I plant ???”

24. Well… what do you
want your cover
crop to do for you?

25. Where are the best places for
cover crops on your farm?
When is the best time for
establishment and termination?
What needs to be adjusted
to find the best fit?

26. Are you familiar with the term
Precision Conservation?

27. Start planning today!
• Anticipate planting windows
• Match objectives with species
• Confirm seed availability
• Make sure seeding equipment is ready
• Identify realistic termination methods
• Allocate labor
• Develop contingency plans

29. NEW IL
Cover Crop
Decision Tool

32. Peer-reviewed publications about CC in IL

36. Opportunities for planting cover crops
• Dormant seeding early or late winter
• Frost seeding
• In the spring
• When planting summer crops
• Prevent plant scenarios
• While sidedressing
• 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

37. Cover crops should not be viewed as the missing
puzzle piece(s) in current cropping systems!

38. Match CC objectives with species
Grazing
GRAZING = #1 way to make cover crops pay!
brassicas, clovers, small grains, a. ryegrass, sorghum-sudan
Nutrient scavenging/cycling
brassicas, small grains, annual ryegrass
Bio-drilling
brassicas, sugarbeet, sunflower,
sorghum-sudan sweet clover, alfalfa
N-fixation
clovers, vetches, lentil, winter pea, chickling vetch, sun hemp, cowpea, soybean
Bio-activation/fumigation
brassicas, sorghum-sudan, sun hemp, sesame
Weed suppression
brassicas, sorghum-sudan, cereal rye, buckwheat

39. Oats, turnips and cereal rye

40. 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 high-
quality 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.

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

42. Radish Roots
at ~ 40”
after 45 days

43. Crop root density as affected by preceding cover crop
Chen and Weil (2006)

44. Radishes are not the only good bio-driller!!
• much less top growth but deeper roots than cereal rye
• much less winter hardy than cereal rye
• can be difficult to kill
• can be a serious weed in small grains

45. CCs affect many agronomic factors
simultaneously
Control
erosion
Feed
livestock
Cover
Crops
Adapted from Magdoff and Weil (2004)

46. Not all effects are positive
Host
pests
Tie up N
? ?
Become a
weed
Interfere w/
equipment
performance
Suppress crop
growth
Cover
Crops Dry out soil
Prevent excessively
soil drying
Add cost
Increase
management
Adapted from Magdoff and Weil (2004)

47. Reduce Risk
• Enroll in programs that pay you to plant CCs
• Use time tested CC methods
• Use more than one method of planting CCs
• Plant mixtures/cocktails
• Grow some crops e.g. small grains, vegetables, corn silage,
shorter season hybrids/varieties that are harvested early
• Plan residual herbicide programs carefully
• Scout for insect pests that are attracted to residue
• Irrigate

48. Traditional cover cropping in the Midwest
The
most tried and true
cover cropping system in
the Midwest region
Frost seeded red clover

49. There are lots of options after small grain harvest

50. Drilling CC after corn/bean harvest is a good
option for a limited # of acres!

51. There are many options other than drilling

52. Use precision planting

53. Precision planted radishes
at the WIU Organic research farm

54. Precision planted cover crops in Indiana

56. Annual ryegrass & radishes aerial seeded
into soybeans at leaf drop.
Aerial seeding is fast and relatively cheap
but more sensitive to weather

57. Set-up for efficient aerial seeding in SE IA
Steve Nebel

58. Steve
Nebel
25-50% YELLOW

59. Steve Nebel
25-50% LIGHT PENETRATION

60. IA and IL Aerial Applicator Survey (May-June 2010)
Name Location Experience w/CC Cost
no exp., no customer
Cady Aerial Spray Rock Falls, IL interest $8.00/a norm app $8.50/a cc
Benoit Aerial
Spraying Kankakee, IL turnips and rye $8.00/a norm app $10.00/a cc
Franks Flying
Service Morrison, IL ryegrass and c. rye $8.00/a norm app $10.00/a cc
Reeds Fly-on yes, c. rye, small part
Farming Mattoon, IL of business $8.00/a norm app $12.00/a cc
Killiam Flying rye, wheat on beans, $8.00/a norm app $10.00/ac
Service Carlinville, IL rye on corn or 10/lb
Curless Flying
Service Astoria, IL ryegrass and turnips $8-15.00/a all app.
Klein Flying St. Francisville, ~$12.50/a cc,
Service IL annual rye and turnips $9.00/a liquid app
Agriflite Services Wakarusa, IN rye, wheat, ryegrass ave $15.00/a for cc app.
Al's Aerial $10-15.00/a cc
Spraying Ovid, MI rye and wheat $10.00/a liquid

61. Optimize fertility
• Inoculate legumes
• Inoculate non-legumes?
• Fertilize cover crops when
residual fertility is low

63. 133 lbs of K/ac 52 lbs of Ca/ac
Hairy Vetch
3,260 lbs of DM/ac
141 lbs of N/ac
18 lbs of P/ac 18 lbs of Mg/ac

64. +20 lbs N/a

65. Learn from cover crop innovators
• Attend field days/host a field day
• Attend conferences
• Participate in internet forums

66. Field day at Steve Groff’s farm

67. Subject Replies Views
> 100 threads and > 200,000 views in 2011

70. A Wheat-Corn-Bean rotation with "tillage" done via RADISHES
(!!) into the wheat stubble every third year! All done with a
single 60 ft 30" planter, RTK and one 60ft toolbar. Fertilizer
efficiency is very good with banding, split application and no fall
8625 losses.
views!!
I came away from there thinking I have seen the future of
production agriculture, at least in some areas.
Sorry to go on so long but this was a very interesting day.
The field of tillage radishes was incredible. The size of those
things does really seem to break up the soil at least as deep as
many tillage tools.

71. Joe Rothermel’s new rig

72. Cover crops planted with insecticide
boxes while stripping

73. Ralph “Junior” Upton
Springerton, Illinois
1,800 acres of no-till corn, beans and wheat &
annual ryegrass, cereal rye and hairy vetch cover crops
Problem Addressed
Difficult soil characteristics. Ralph “Junior” Upton farms
poorly drained land characterized by an impenetrable
layer, or “plow pan,” six to eight inches deep that crop
roots typically can’t grow through.
One day, in the mid-1980s, Upton got a magnified view of his soil’s limitations.
While tearing out a fence, Upton noticed plenty of moisture in the soil about
three feet down. Above it sat a compacted layer of soil through which no roots
were growing. Upton had a visible confirmation of why, during dry years, the
shallow-rooted crops dried up even though there was plenty of water stored in
the soil below.
“I began looking for a way to break up that plow pan
so my crops could get to the moisture they needed”

74. ~ 120 profiles since 2008

75. Learn from research
On-farm research
• Leave check strips - replicate if possible
• Work with universities/NRCS
Research station trials
• Make suggestions
• Pay attention to results

76. Corn following cover crop experiment in 2011
Relative
Cover crop system
corn yield
Volunteer oats 79%
Radishes planted on 30” 99%
Radishes drilled on 7.5” 91%
Corn planted on radish rows

77. Early July 2009
Organic No-till research at
the Allison Farm
Soybeans drilled after rolling 5’ tall cereal rye

78. Early August 2009

79. Early November 2009
Plot yields ranged from 51.6 to 58.6 bu/ac
No significant differences between
NT, CT and bio-strip-till systems

80. November 2011
Have you considered this
option for combating
herbicide resistance!

81. Soybean health experiment – 6 locations across IL
November 2010
Mustard
Rapeseed incorporated
Canola pre-plant
Cereal rye
Cereal rye no-till
Soybeans no-till drilled into cereal rye
were the top yielder in 2011

82. Beware of hype!
Cover crops are
not a silver bullet
solution to any
problem!!!

83. Be realistic about
potential CC challenges
but optimistic about
real opportunities