12/28/2023 0 Comments Ctic privacy protector![]() Forty-one percent of those who used interseeding would continue using it, while 45% were still experimenting with it, and 14% were disappointed with the results. Fifty percent of the farmers planted all their cover crops after main crop harvest, but the other half reported that they planted at least a portion of their cover crop acreage before main crop harvest. However, many other species were used as well, and 76% of respondents used cover crop mixes in 2019 or planned to do so in 2020. It was interesting to see that 80% of the farmers reported that the cover crop seed cost less than $25/A, and about half only spent $11-$20 per acre on seed.Ĭereal rye was the species used on most acres. Further, 87% noticed soil improvement within 3 years after starting to use cover crops. More importantly, however, many farmers reported cost reductions, for example, 49% reported reduced fertilizer costs for corn, and 39% reduced corn herbicide costs, and 41% reduced soybeans herbicide costs. On average, the farmers reported a slight (3 bu/A) yield improvement for both corn and soybeans after cover crops. ![]() The first and foremost reasons for using cover crops were soil structure/soil health improvement (94%), improved weed management (81%), soil erosion control (71%), improved infiltration (63%), and beneficial insects (49%), while improved insect or disease control (43%), better driving or walking surface (21%) and reduced dust (21%) were also mentioned as important reasons for using cover crops. Farm size varied from 1 to >2000 acres, with more than 70% farming more than 180 acres. ![]() Most respondents were from the Midwest, but there were also a significant number from Pennsylvania who responded. Eighty one percent of the farmers were commodity crop farmers, with the balance being horticultural producers. The results of the survey were published after the summer with 1,172 farmers from around the nation participating. Last year we encouraged farmers to participate in the on-line CTIC Cover Crop Survey from March 26-April 12, 2020.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |