How to grow Corn without Peticides

Several years ago, Forgey began thinking about how he might include cover crops on the 8500-acre farm to improve soil and the bottom line. But how best to do this in a no-till system? Usually, cover crops are tilled into the soil while they are still green in order to promote soil quality and fertility, but that is not an option in a no-till system. Forgey received a SARE grant to test the feasibility of using cover crops at Cronin Farms. It’s an on-going experiment, but after three years, results are promising. One cover crop mix of turnips, cowpeas and lentils increased corn yields by 18-20 bushels per acre in the SARE farm trials.

Cronin Farms innovative no-till system integrates both cover crops and livestock grazing. corn yields of 60-80 bushels per acre without chemical fertilizer, Forgey describes his ongoing research with cover crops, this time looking at how they might be grown in sync with a cash crop of corn, and a forage soybean variety developed by Dwayne Beck of South Dakota State University showed excellent results.

Other benefits include:

• healthier soil, with increasing benefits over a period of 4 to 5 years
• better soil aggregation and texture through the addition of organic matter and enhanced activity of soil microorganisms
• economic savings as a result of reduced use of purchased fertilizer

The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program’s mission is to advance—to the whole of American agriculture—innovations that improve profitability, stewardship and quality of life by investing in groundbreaking research and education. SARE is proud of its connections to farming communities across the country and encourages those who wish to learn more to visit their website. SARE is funded by USDA and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).

Information sheet describing how cover crops and livestock fit into a typical crop rotation at Cronin Farms (PDF) is available at the SARE Web site or Managing Cover Crops Profitably (PDF).