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NDSU Extension Sets Cover Crop Field Day

The field day will highlight 20 cover crop species and how they can be incorporated into a farming operation or used for fall grazing.

Cover crop use, the benefits of cover crops, and how they can be used as part of an interseeding system in corn and soybeans will be the focus of a North Dakota State University Extension field day Sept. 18.

Educational sessions and field visits will be at the NDSU campus research plots 0.4 mile west of the corner of 18th Street and 15th Avenue North in Fargo, N.D. The sessions begin at 8 a.m. and end at 3 p.m.

The field day will highlight 20 cover crop species and how they can be incorporated into a farming operation or used for fall grazing.

Other topics that presenters will discuss are the benefits and challenges of cover crops, forage sorghum and grazing mixtures, and the results of the timing of seeding and the rate of rye and camelina seeded into standing soybeans. The field day also includes an opportunity to view interseeding equipment.

In addition, participants will visit the field research and demonstration plots near Hickson, N.D., by bus. Stops include a research area with cover crop interseeded into corn and a research site investigating the effect of fall-seeded cover crops on the currently grown corn and sugar beet crops.

After lunch, researchers will present results of interseeding camelina and pennycress in corn and soybeans. The program will conclude with a panel discussion, which will include a question-and-answer session.

“I have worked with interseeding camelina and rye in soybean during the past two summers,” says Kory Johnson, a graduate student in NDSU’s Plant Sciences Department and one of the field day’s speakers. “Seeding these cover crops into soybean is still a relatively new concept in North Dakota, but I expect greater adoption rates in the future.”

Hans Kandel, NDSU Extension agronomist and a field day presenter adds, “The residue after soybean harvest is limited. To protect the soil, one of the options is seeding cover crops at the end of the soybean growing season to allow plant establishment of the winter cover crops. Our research is trying to answer the feasibility and benefits of interseeding cover crops into standing crops.”

Field day participants will have the opportunity to learn about cover crop research findings as well as interact with other participants who have experience in incorporating cover crops into their farm operations.

Lunch will be provided. Registration is required. Go to https://tinyurl.com/CoverCropFieldDay to register online. For more information about the field day and preliminary research results, visit the project’s website at https://www.cropsyscap.org/.

This field day is part of the outreach effort associated with a National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded to North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station scientists (Award No. 2016-69004-24784, “CropSys - A novel management approach to increase productivity, resilience, and long-term sustainability of cropping systems in the northern Great Plains”).

The grant research aims to study how cover crops can increase the resiliency and productivity of crops such as corn and soybeans, and improve soil health and land use efficiency.


NDSU Agriculture Communication - Aug. 28, 2018

Source:Hans Kandel, 701-231-8135, hans.kandel@ndsu.edu
Editor:Ellen Crawford, 701-231-5391, ellen.crawford@ndsu.edu
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