The following videos were part of Cover Crops for Soil Health, a three-day professional development workshop hosted by Northeast SARE and Delaware State University in March 2016.
Overview of Cover Crop Developments Nationwide
Rob Myers (North Central SARE, University of Missouri) reviews data from three years of a national SARE/CTIC cover crop survey, including yield and economic data, and gives examples of new equipment approaches from around the nation. He also provides a brief overview of the proposed $25 million National Soil Health Consortium, which includes funding for a cover crop breeding initiative.
Download the slide presentation (PDF): New Trends and Ideas for Cover Crops
Rob Myers has been adjunct faculty in the Plant Sciences Division at the University of Missouri since 2001, with primary appointment as Regional Director of Extension Programs for the North Central Region SARE program, and coordinator of the regional SARE Professional Development Program. He administers competitive grants and state funding for sustainable agriculture projects in 12 North Central states. His professional expertise encompasses sustainable agriculture, conservation, and cropping system diversification and he has conducted research and education programs with a number of alternative crops and cover crops. In 2013-14 he held a special appointment as Endowed Chair of Agricultural Systems through the University of Minnesota. He has contributed on national committees and councils addressing a number of federal research, education, and agriculture policy programs, including currently serving as Co-Chair of the National Working Group on Cover Crops and Soil Health.
Cover Crop Planting Dates and Seeding Rates
In this session, Matthew Ryan (Cornell University) discusses the necessity of proper establishment timing and seeding rates for maximizing cover crop performance. He explains how knowledge of the interaction between these considerations can provide management flexibility and increase cover cropping success.
Download the slide presentation (PDF): Cover Crop Seeding Dates and Seeding Rates
Matthew Ryan, agroecologist and Assistant Professor at Cornell University in the Section of Soil and Crop Sciences, conducts research on sustainable cropping systems with an aim to increase cropping system sustainability through ecological intensification. He works with farmers, students, and other scientists to evaluate cropping system performance in terms of crop yield, profitability, environmental impact, and resilience. His current focus is on expanding the utility of cover crops by overcoming obstacles that limit their adoption and developing management practices that maximize their benefits. He also works on perennial grains, organic weed management, conservation agriculture, agroecological theory, and the role of diversity in adapting to climate change.
Cover Crop Cocktails
Cover crop mixes, or cocktails, can do a lot, but can also be complex to put together. Mitch Hunter (Penn State University) discusses the principles of how to assemble different cover crop species into a successful cocktail based on farm management objectives, crop rotation restraints, and which cover crop species traits are complementary.
Download the slide presentation (PDF): Making the Most of Cover Crop Mixtures
Mitch Hunter is a PhD candidate in Agronomy at Penn State University working with Dr. David Mortensen to develop ecologically sound farming systems that are productive, economical, and workable for farmers. His current research focuses on using diverse cover crop “cocktails” to improve cropping system productivity, sustainability, and resilience in the face of challenging climatic conditions. He is investigating how cover crops affect the water relations of the following corn crop under drought, since drought is expected to become more frequent and severe under climate change. He is also assessing how cover crop cocktails can contribute to ecological weed management. Mitch draws inspiration from time spent working on Hunter family farms in Minnesota and Illinois and on ranches in California and Nevada. Prior to coming to Penn State he was the Federal Policy Manager with American Farmland Trust in Washington, DC, where he worked to promote on-farm conservation in the federal Farm Bill. He received a B.A. in Government from Harvard University following two years of liberal arts study, self-governance, and student labor at Deep Springs College.
Establishment Methods for Cover Crops and Cash Crops in Grain Production Systems
Steven Mirsky (USDA-ARS) and Greg Roth (Penn State University) provide a rundown of common establishment methods for cover crops: aerial seeding, interseeding and post-harvest drilling. They also discuss the importance of matching the right cover crop species with the right methods. Sjoerd Duiker (Penn State University) discusses: no-till versus tillage; optimal timing of cash crop establishment, drills versus planters, planter and drill attachments and set up; cover crop termination; and planting green.
Download the slide presentations (PDF):Cover Crop Establishment Methods – MirskyInterseeding Cover Crops – Roth
Cash Crop Establishment Into/After Cover Crops – Duiker
Steven Mirsky is a Research Ecologist for the USDA-ARS in the Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory, USDA-ARS-BARC Beltsville, Maryland. He conducts agroecological research in organic and sustainable cropping systems. His research focuses on evaluating cropping system sustainability including agronomic and environmental criteria. Steven conducts research on evaluating the multifunctional role of cover crops (weed control and Nitrogen scavenging and fertility) and their integration into agroecosystems for soil, crop, and weed management. Steven received his M.S. and Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University.
Greg Roth, Professor of Agronomy and Extension grain crops specialist at Penn State, develops educational programs for extension agents, agribusiness groups and producers on timely issues such as managing crops during drought stress, GMO concerns, potential of specialty corn hybrids, managing for grain quality, organic grain production and producing corn for silage. A key research focus has been managing corn for silage production using different hybrids and management strategies on dairy farms. He is studying the potential of added value wheat and barley varieties to try to create more opportunities for crop producers in the state. During the past four years he has working with a team to develop a machine to interseed cover crops into growing corn and this has been used in over a dozen states so far.
Sjoerd Duiker is an Associate Professor of Soil Management and Applied Soil Physics. His specialization focuses on the effects of soil management practices on soil physical properties and processes. This includes the effect of no-tillage and tillage on soil physical properties, how soil compaction affects soil and crops, what effect crop rotation plays in maintaining soil quality, and the benefits and challenges of cover crops. The use of a systems approach to no-tillage, soil compaction and crop rotations is a crucial element in all of his work. Research takes place on Penn States research farms as well as in collaboration with farmers and field agronomists in Pennsylvania.
Fitting Cover Crops in Vegetable Rotations
Ron Morse (Virginia Tech, emeritus) shares how to successfully fit cover crops into a vegetable rotation, including establishment methods, matching the right species to the right methods, recommended rotations and cash crop establishment.
Download the slide presentations (PDF): Cover Crop-Based Production of Vegetable Crops
Ron Morse is emeritus professor at Virginia Tech whose major focus is cover crop-based conservation agriculture for small-scale vegetable farms. Areas of specialization include establishment and management of high-biomass cover crops to suppress weeds and supply nutrients for succeeding vegetable crops; integration of farmscapes (biostrips) and plant-diverse controlled-traffic beds to alleviate soil compaction, manage insect pests and improve soil and overall farm health; and development and refinement of small-farm equipment.
Managing Cover Crops for Ecosystem Services in Vegetable Systems
Natalie Lounsbury (University of New Hampshire) discusses how to manage cover crops for such ecosystem services as: suppressing weeds, attracting pollinators, cycling nutrients, promoting biological diversity and controlling erosion.
Natalie Lounsbury is a PhD student at the University of New Hampshire and a part-time vegetable farmer in Maine. Prior to moving back to New England, she received her M.S. at the University of Maryland where she studied cover crops and reduced tillage in vegetable production systems.
Cover Crops: Current and Future Directions
This plenary discussion on current and future directions in cover crops features Greg Roth (Penn State, presenting on behalf of Scott Rushe, Seedway), Ramona Garner (USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Center) and Andrew Smyre (Perdue AgriBusiness).
Greg Roth (Penn State, presenting on behalf of Scott Rushe, Seedway) discusses his take on the future of cover crops, including past and current demand for cover crop seeds (species, mixes, quantities, application situations), and farmer feedback he has heard about performance, cost, and species or traits that are desired but unavailable.
Download the slide presentation (PDF): Cover Crops for Soil Health, Industry Perspective - Rushe
Ramona Garner (USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Center) describes the efforts of the Plant Materials Center to identify and develop new and improved cover crops; germplasm identification and screening, and the role of the center in national cover crops and soil health projects.
Download the slide presentation (PDF): USDA NRCS Plant Materials Program, Cover Crops - Garner
Andrew Smyre (Perdue AgriBusiness) discusses his company's interest in cover crops as it relates to organic grains, soil health and specialty crops. He also addresses Perdue's approach to helping growers implement cover crops, and opportunities and challenges going forward.
Download the slide presentation (PDF): Perdue AgriBusiness, Cover Crops - Smyre
A graduate of Penn State University with a BS in Agronomy, Scott Rushe has been in employed in agriculture all of his life. His employment has taken him from working with West Coast seed companies where he developed distribution of their genetics, worked directly with their seed growers, and evaluated new genetics to his current position with Seedway. At Seedway Scott is responsible for providing technical knowledge to Seedway staff and customers, evaluating and selecting new genetics to market from New England to Florida, collaborating with Universities on research trials, and representing Seedway in numerous professional organizations. Scott has held positions with the Pennsylvania Ag Council, Pennsylvania Forage and Grassland Council, and now serves on the Working Board of the American Seed Trade Association’s Cover Crop Group.
Ramona Garner is the Plant Materials Specialist for the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service’s East National Technology Support Center in Greensboro, NC. She has worked in the NRCS Plant Materials Program for 25 years as both an agronomist and a center manager. Ramona is presently working with NRCS plant materials centers across the country to identify ways to improve our use of cover crops. A study at six centers extending from the east to west coast is evaluating seeding rates and species mixes and how they may influence soil health. Another study at 25 centers is evaluating the adaptability of 52 cultivars from 8 cover crop species. Ramona grew up on a family farm in Alabama and received her PhD in Agronomy from Clemson University.
Andrew Smyre is an agronomist for Perdue AgriBusiness, a division of the Perdue Company that specializes in sourcing, purchasing and processing grains, meals and blended feed ingredients, and high-quality oils for use in food and non-food industries. The company also provides agronomic consulting services and support to grain and specialty oilseed crop producers. Andrew graduated from Delaware Valley University in 2008 with a B.S. in Agronomy. After graduating, he worked on the family farm and lived in Alaska with his wife and two dogs.
Evaluating and Improving Cover Crop Performance and Adoption
Many of the benefits of cover crops are known and their use is increasing, but more can be done to evaluate and improve their performance and adoption. In this session, Sjoerd Duiker (Penn State University) discusses the possibility of adoption without government regulation or incentives. Dean Hively (USGS) reviews the use of remote sensing to map cover crop performance, trends toward increasing wintertime ground cover and watershed-scale performance.
Download the slide presentations (PDF): A Program to Stimulate Cover Crop Adoption After Corn Silage Without Carrots or Sticks - Duiker
Evaluating and Improving Cover Crop Performance and Adoption - Hively
Sjoerd Duiker is an Associate Professor of Soil Management and Applied Soil Physics. His specialization focuses on the effects of soil management practices on soil physical properties and processes. This includes the effect of no-tillage and tillage on soil physical properties, how soil compaction affects soil and crops, what effect crop rotation plays in maintaining soil quality, and the benefits and challenges of cover crops. The use of a systems approach to no-tillage, soil compaction and crop rotations is a crucial element in all of his work. Research takes place on Penn States research farms as well as in collaboration with farmers and field agronomists in Pennsylvania.
Dean Hively is a Research Physical Scientist with the USGS Eastern Geographic Science Center, where he leads a task titled "Understanding Agricultural Conservation Practices." He is posted to the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory where his research uses a combination of satellite and proximal multispectral and hyperspectral sensors, along with on-farm sampling and access to farm management records, to map and evaluate the plant biomass, nitrogen content, and vegetative ground cover associated with winter cover cropped fields. In addition, Dean is the lead for maintaining the USGS status as a Conservation Cooperator with the USDA, and coordinates the annual acquisition of privacy protected conservation data from USDA agencies and the production of aggregated data sets for public release. This information informs adaptive management of conservation resources by Chesapeake Bay Program Partners, and links the agricultural landscape to water quality outcomes by documenting the implementation and performance of conservation practices at the watershed scale.
Cover Crops as Part of an Overall Nutrient Management System
In this session, Steven Mirsky (USDA-ARS) discusses the role of cover crops in integrated fertility management and maximizing nutrient availability, as well as the role of grasses versus legumes and matching other nutrient sources with cover crop performance. Heather Darby (University of Vermont) continues by addressing cover crops in the context of forages, dairies, perennials and pastures, and rotating pasture to grain.
Download the slide presentations (PDF): Managing Nitrogen with Cover Crops - Mirsky
Cover Cropping in Dairy Systems - Darby
Steven Mirsky is a Research Ecologist for the USDA-ARS in the Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory, USDA-ARS-BARC Beltsville, Maryland. He conducts agroecological research in organic and sustainable cropping systems. His research focuses on evaluating cropping system sustainability including agronomic and environmental criteria. Steven conducts research on evaluating the multifunctional role of cover crops (weed control and Nitrogen scavenging and fertility) and their integration into agroecosystems for soil, crop, and weed management. Steven received his M.S. and Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University.
Heather Darby is an agronomic and soils specialist for the University of Vermont Extension, with her MS from the University of Wisconsin in Agronomy and her Ph.D. in Crops and Soils at Oregon State University. Being raised on a dairy farm in Northwestern Vermont has also allowed her to play an active role in all aspects of dairy farming as well as gain knowledge of the land and create an awareness of the hard work and dedication required to operate a farm. These practical experiences complemented by her education have focused her attention towards sustainable agriculture and promotion of environmental stewardship of the land. Heather is involved with implementing many research and outreach programs in the areas of fuel, forage and grain production systems in New England. Outreach programs have focused on delivering on-farm education in the areas of soil health, nutrient management, organic grain and forage production, and oilseed production. Research has focused on traditional and niche crop variety trials, soil management strategies and cropping systems development.
Managing Soil Health With Cover Crops: Beyond the Basics
In this session, leading experts dive deep into the soil-related benefits of cover crops. Ray Weil (University of Maryland) discusses the physical benefits, including improved water infiltration and aggregate stability, as well as reduced compaction. Michel Cavigelli (USDA-ARS) explains how cover crop management affects soil health, addressing cropping systems, carbon storage, organic matter, conservation tillage and long-term dynamics. Stuart Grandy (University of New Hampshire) discusses emerging concepts for harnessing microbes to build organic matter.
Ray Weil has taught soil science to over 6,000 students at the University of Maryland and abroad and has addressed over 4,000 farmers at meetings and field days. He has also brought an ecological approach to soil science with his textbook The Nature and Properties of Soils. He is a pioneer of sustainable agriculture and cover cropping systems. For the last decade, he and many of his graduate students have investigated various properties of forage radish as a cover crop.
Michel Cavigelli is the Lead Scientist on the ARS Farming Systems Project (FSP), a long-term field cropping systems study evaluating the sustainability of no-till, conventional till, and organic cropping systems by measuring agronomic performance, nutrient dynamics, soil biological activity and community structure, and predicting the long-term sustainability of cropping systems. Dr. Cavigelli's research contributes to all areas of FSP research but his primary focus is on agronomic performance and C, N and P dynamics. Nutrient dynamics research currently includes measuring soil inorganic nitrogen dynamics, biogenic greenhouse gas (CO2, N2O, CH4) fluxes, soil and nutrient runoff potentials, and nitrate leaching potential. His goal is to better understand the factors controlling these dynamics and to incorporate these measurements into existing predictive models to help assess C, N and P budgets for the FSP cropping systems. Dr. Cavigelli also conducts research on an organic farm near Buckeystown, MD, to determine the effects of intensive tillage on soil quality and the appropriate greensand application rate to maintain adequate K for alfalfa production.
Stuart Grandy is a professor at the University of New Hampshire where his research examines how soil organisms interact with their environment to regulate ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling, organic matter turnover, trace gas emissions, and productivity. This research encompasses multiple spatial scales and lies at the interface of soil ecology, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem science. Much of his current work focuses in some capacity on the feedbacks between plants, organic matter dynamics, and soil biological communities. His research spans sites in the Northeast, Midwest, and West and includes different agriculture, forest, and mountain ecosystems.
Cover Crop Field Tour Recap and Debrief
Attendees of the Cover Crops for Soil Health workshop have a short discussion reflecting on their tour of the long-term farming systems research project at the USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland.
Farmer Panel on Cover Crops
In this panel, farmers Skip Paul (Rhode Island), Jeff Frey (Pennsylvania) and Perry Lilley (Maine) share their experiences with cover crops, including their motivation for using them, successes and challenges, factors that play into decision making around cover crops, and advice for ag service providers who want to encourage farmer adoption of this vital conservation practice.
Jeff Frey is the owner/operator of Future View Farms in Willow Street, Pennsylvania where he grows 600 acres of corn and 200 acres of soybeans, and raises 4,000 finishing pigs. Frey is featured in SARE's Cover Crop Innovators video series.
Skip Paul, along with his wife Liz and son Silas, owns and operates Wishing Stone Farm in Little Compton, Rhode Island where they produce peaches, 35 acres of organic vegetables, eggs, honey, and value added products, which are all sold via CSA, wholesale and farmers markets. Skip has been experimenting with cover crops for over 30 years. The Paul’s growing methods mirror their commitment to sustainable agriculture and the protection of open space, while providing food for our local communities. They started their farm in 1983 as early adopters of the organic movement where they adapt to weather conditions, farming trends, and community interest.
Perry Lilley is the owner/operator of Lilley Farms in Smyrna Mills, Maine. Perry is a dairy farmer who grows corn silage, soybeans, alfalfa-grass and small grains and rotates some land with potatoes. He has been a no-till farmer for more than 5 years.