cover cropping Articles
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Earth Innovations: Cover Cropping
Earth Innovations is a new series from Sound Agriculture that covers the up-and-coming techniques growers are deploying to keep their yields high and their land healthy for generations to come. In each blog post, we break down the benefits and challenges of incorporating new practices, using real growers’ experiences and the Sound Agronomy Team’s expertise. Cover crops are ...
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Brassica cover crops for Nitrogen retention in the mid-Atlantic coastal plain
Received for publication February 5, 2008. Brassica cover crops are new to the mid-Atlantic region, and limited information is available on their N uptake capabilities for effective N conservation. Forage radish (Raphanus sativus L. cv. Daikon), oilseed radish (Raphanus sativus L. cv. Adagio), and rape (Brassica napus L. cv. Dwarf Essex) were compared with rye (Secale cereale L. cv. Wheeler), a ...
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Cover crop and nitrogen effects on maize productivity in no-Tillage Systems of the Brazilian cerrados
Cover crops in direct seeding mulch-based cropping (DMC) systems can be an effective tool to optimize N management for crop production in the Brazilian cerrados. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of four cover crops on maize (Zea mays L.) grain yields in two fields that had been under DMC for 3 and 14 yr. We hypothesized that cover crops would optimize N supply to the maize ...
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Cover Crop and nitrogen effects on maize productivity in no-tillage systems of the Brazilian Cerrados
Cover crops in direct seeding mulch-based cropping (DMC) systems can be an effective tool to optimize N management for crop production in the Brazilian cerrados. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of four cover crops on maize (Zea mays L.) grain yields in two fields that had been under DMC for 3 and 14 yr. We hypothesized that cover crops would optimize N supply to the maize ...
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Nitrogen storage with cover crops and nitrogen fertilization in tilled and nontilled soils
Improved crop and N management practices are needed to increase soil N storage so that N fertilization rate and the potential for N leaching can be reduced in tilled and nontilled soils. We examined the influence of cover crops and N fertilization rates on N inputs from cover crops, cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] and soil total N (STN) content at the 0- ...
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Enhancing nutrient cycling by coupling cover crops with manure injection
Coupling winter small grain cover crops (CC) with liquid manure injection may increase manure nutrient capture. The objectives of this research were to quantify manure injection effects using target swine (Sus scrofa) manure N rates of 112, 224, and 336 kg N ha–1 on CC plant density, fall and spring shoot biomass, N, P, and K uptake and subsequent corn (Zea mays L.) yield. A winter rye (Secale ...
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Hit the Spring Planting Target with Hydraulic Down Force
Will Hutchinson enjoys a good challenge, especially when it comes to improving production on his row crop, wheat and alfalfa farm near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. So when he saw the opportunity to leverage Ag Leader’s Hydraulic Down Force system to prevent a common problem and improve his planting operations on acres where he plants cover crops, he jumped at the chance. Two years later, ...
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SureForce Breaks Through the Challenges of No-Till
It is no secret that ground conditions and tillage practices present different challenges for growers during planting season. Those who practice no-till with cover crops can have the most difficult environments for planters when it comes to seed placement - specifically seed depth. Time and again our TechTrials reveal that no matter the farming practices, or ground conditions seed depth makes or ...
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Multivariate analysis and visualization of soil quality data for no-till systems
To evidence the multidimensionality of the soil quality concept, we propose the use of data visualization as a tool for exploratory data analyses, model building, and diagnostics. Our objective was to establish the best edaphic indicators for assessing soil quality in four no-till systems with regard to functioning as a medium for crop production and nutrient cycling across two Illinois ...
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Nitrogen Fixers
Here’s a bit of geeky plant science. On this image of the roots of white clover, you can plainly see bumps along the roots that are called nodules. Over millions of years, the plant has evolved a symbiotic relationship with certain species of soil-dwelling bacteria called Rhizobia. This group of bacteria has the ability to take nitrogen from the atmosphere and “fix” it by ...
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Living mulch forage yield and botanical composition in a corn-soybean-forage rotation
Managing forages as living mulches during row crop production requires suppressing the forages to produce economical crop yields. The objective of this research was to identify forage plants with varied growth habit, persistence, and yield potential to provide desirable ecosystem functions in a multifunctional cropping system. Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), kura clover (Trifolium ambiguum Bieb.), ...
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Why Vertical Crop Monitoring is Essential to Regenerative Agriculture
A farmer’s day may be different every day during the growing season but the one constant is that each day is dedicated to doing what needs to be done for a healthy crop. Today’s growers also know that they are the custodians of the soil they farm. Our planet’s population depends on their willingness and ability to reverse the damage that some traditional farming practices have ...
By AquaSpy Inc.
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Results from the ground up
Maintaining soil health and increasing bushels Soil health is the most important aspect of your farm fields. Without healthy soil, you face a tough challenge each year. When your soil profile is strong and not deficient in any nutrients or minerals, you increase your chance of a successful growing season. More than anything, healthy soil gives you the chance to increase your bushels. If your soil ...
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Conservation: It’s the right thing to do
A fable of six blind men and an elephant originated centuries ago somewhere on the Indian continent. In it the blind men try to identify an elephant by touching only one part. According to the fable each man came to a different conclusion as to what the elephant was. The parable illustrates that though opinions may vary, there’s some truth to be found in all of them. That’s the way ...
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Let’s stop treating our soil like dirt
One of the most underappreciated resources on our planet, soil does much more than grow crops The United Nations’ International Year of Soils is hardly a media darling. Maybe it’s because many people are like me, who recall Mom’s words: “Take off your shoes! Don’t bring dirt into the house!” With all the challenges in the world today, why would we recognize ...
By Ensia
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Valuation of nitrogen retention as an ecosystem service on a catchment scale
An ecosystem service approach was used to study the water purification service exemplified by impacts of land management scenarios. Nitrogen retention was calculated in two agricultural catchments by the dynamic Integrated Nutrients in Catchments (INCA)-N model. The monetary valuation was based on purification efficiency of artificial wetlands. The set of scenarios were based on existing ...
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Unlocking Precision and Sustainability with Portable Soil EC Detectors
For millennia, farmers have tilled the land, guided by intuition and tradition. But beneath the surface, in the hidden realm of the soil, lies a powerful language waiting to be deciphered. A language not of words, but of electrical whispers, dictating the very foundation of plant growth and ecosystem health. This language is spoken in terms of Electrical Conductivity (EC), and to understand it, ...
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Is Conservation Tillage the Future of Agriculture?
Like any business, farmers must manage their farms with one foot in the present and the other in the future. It’s not enough to focus just on yields. We must also consider the impact those yields have on our fields. To ensure sustainable crop production, the implementation of a method like conservation tillage is vital. Conservation tillage is a tilling process that leaves at least ...
By Growers
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Healthy soil key to readying your fields for the coming season
The more you know about your soil, the better enabled you will be to make fertilizer decisions that work on every area of your farm While harvest brings the 2023 growing season to a close, preparation for next year is already underway. Pat Kunz has signed up to have his soil tested across all his fields in anticipation of making informed fertilizer purchases for the upcoming spring. He says ...
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Soil Nutrients and Field Health: what you Need to Know
The soil on your field is like the brain to your body. It tells your crops everything they need to know to produce a healthy yield; how many organisms live there, what the pH balance is, whether or not something is performing well… For the brain, if something isn’t performing well, the body can react catastrophically. The same thing happens with soil. If you have too much ...
By Growers
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