Innovation Grant Spotlight: No-till and cover crops to reduce soil loss, hold on to nitrogen
Written by Jonathan Eisenthal
The hilltop farm field where Brock Olson farms with his family affords a magnificent view, but it also slopes steeply on all sides, meaning strong rainfalls can carry away tons of topsoil. A four-inch rain will open foot-deep channels that excavate all the way down to clay subsoil.
When Brock Olson returned to the family farm in Goodhue County, he brought with him the engineer’s mindset he used every day in his job at 3M and set out to use scientific testing to improve his farm’s ability to weather a storm.
He wanted to test a three-crop rotation, reducing tillage, and using cover crops to see what combination would create the greatest benefit in reduced erosion, and retention of nutrients. He heard about the Minnesota Corn Innovation Grant Program and realized his research would make a perfect match for the program. Olson is now in the third and final year of his research.
“The Innovation Grant Program is a really fantastic way to have farmers think about what they want to test, and to help offset costs for tests that they otherwise wouldn’t do,” said Olson.
The effects of no-till+cover crops, versus conventional tillage:
- 90 percent less erosion
- A 10-15 bushel yield increase in corn
- Increased organic matter compared to both conventional tillage, and no-till without cover crops
- Winter peas fixed nitrogen in soil for the following crop.
Olson’s rotation:
Year One: Winter rye harvested late July, followed by a four-way mix of crop cover crops: radish, winter pea, sorghum sudangrass, and oats.
Year Two: The four-way cover winter killed, corn planted into residue, followed by a cover-crop of rye.
Year Three: The rye overwintered. No-till soybeans into the standing rye, which was terminated when the soybeans were at four weeks.
“The corn crop that followed the four-way mix looked good all year, better than the rest of the corn I planted, despite having the same planting date and fertility treatment,” said Olson. “I’m seeing the same kind of results with the soybeans planted into the rye.”
Olson plans to continue to test water infiltration, organic matter and soil nitrogen levels, to develop a long term picture of his farm and how it responds to different management techniques.
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