Cover Crop Projects

Dr. Roger Elmore Author

01/07/2016 Added

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Cover Crop Projects presented by Dr. Roger Elmore

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[00:00:00.590]Thanks for the opportunity to be here.
[00:00:04.210]This is a fast break, but they gave me time
[00:00:06.730]to pop three popcorn bags, instead of two.
[00:00:11.290]Or maybe to eat one ready-to-eat bag, Oscar,
[00:00:13.690]I don't know how long it takes to eat a bag like that.
[00:00:17.250]But I'm fortunate to be here, and it is good to be back.
[00:00:20.630]My job is to cover, or talk about, no pun intended,
[00:00:25.190]some cover crop projects that I'm part of,
[00:00:27.802]I've been blessed to be part of.
[00:00:31.223]And it's like coming full circle for me,
[00:00:33.262]because I came off a diversified farm in Illiinois,
[00:00:37.022]with livestock and alfalfa and clover and oats
[00:00:40.662]and corn and soybeans and sheep
[00:00:43.442]and cattle and chickens and you name it.
[00:00:45.582]And then I spent a couple years in Southeast Asia
[00:00:48.802]working in diverse cropping systems there
[00:00:51.422]as part of Peace Corp.
[00:00:52.963]Came back and I did my Ph.D. in intercropping work,
[00:00:56.722]and then my first job was out at Clay Center,
[00:00:58.662]where this photo was taken at.
[00:01:00.622]So, Richard and Teresa, and Anne, and I
[00:01:02.523]spent 22 years there,
[00:01:05.622]just south of where this picture was taken
[00:01:07.522]was where we lived.
[00:01:09.023]But the landscape there has changed dramatically
[00:01:11.082]in the last 10 years,
[00:01:12.062]and you can see it here in this photograph,
[00:01:14.482]just taken straight west of Clay Center.
[00:01:17.162]Where a hybrid seed field,
[00:01:19.902]when the mail roads were destroyed,
[00:01:21.682]turnips were seeded and cattle were ready to graze there.
[00:01:26.042]But, this talk isn't about me.
[00:01:27.962]It's about the people that are working beside me
[00:01:30.642]and with me, and these are a few of the people.
[00:01:32.802]Daren Refearn is a crop and forage residue
[00:01:37.482]management specialist, that's been a close colleague
[00:01:40.123]in almost everything I've done.
[00:01:41.982]Chris Proctor was here earlier this morning,
[00:01:45.462]is now Extension Weed Educator.
[00:01:49.722]Roberto Blanco is here in our crowd,
[00:01:52.602]and is one of the cool PI's on this big project.
[00:01:55.372]Ed Barnes, I couldn't get a picture of Ed overnight.
[00:01:58.452]So, there's Ed, he's our research technologist
[00:02:01.292]out at Clay Center that helps us immensely.
[00:02:04.532]Katja Koehler-Cole is the post-doc
[00:02:06.812]on the cover crop project I'll be talking about briefly.
[00:02:10.713]Angela Bastidas is a Ph.D. candidiate,
[00:02:13.052]or a Ph.D. student doing work on cover crops.
[00:02:17.793]And Justin McMachan is an intern
[00:02:20.472]that served with me this last summer.
[00:02:21.792]You'll see some of the benefits of that work.
[00:02:23.772]He's not only a Ph.D. candidate in entomology,
[00:02:27.432]but is also a doctor of plant health candidate.
[00:02:30.812]So, a good team of people around us.
[00:02:32.632]And this is just a few of the people
[00:02:35.333]that I'm working with.
[00:02:36.192]Part of the thing, this full circle part,
[00:02:39.852]is just in Sunday's paper, in the Journal Star,
[00:02:43.372]was a quote from our Light Corp colleagues
[00:02:47.012]that apparently one of their mission statements or ideas
[00:02:49.592]is understanding nature's chaos.
[00:02:53.813]So, when I say I'm coming from full circles,
[00:02:56.052]because there for a while, I served just working in corn,
[00:03:00.012]and working in soybeans,
[00:03:01.462]and that's relatively simple compared to the systems
[00:03:04.252]that we're trying to work with.
[00:03:05.892]So, I'm trying to,
[00:03:07.032]we are trying to understand nature's chaos.
[00:03:11.552]So, what's a cover crop?
[00:03:12.612]There's a definition of it.
[00:03:14.172]It covers the ground.
[00:03:15.672]The thing that this definition leaves out
[00:03:17.632]is this little bit here about forage production.
[00:03:20.132]You can argue whether cover crops are forage crops or not,
[00:03:24.212]but that's beyond my time limit here.
[00:03:26.572]And this is beyond my time limit, too,
[00:03:28.112]because reportedly, cover crops do a great deal.
[00:03:32.653]You need to read Humberto's article that just came out,
[00:03:35.792]didn't it, Humberto, just a few weeks ago
[00:03:38.462]in Agronomy Journal,
[00:03:39.923]where he goes through with the rest of us
[00:03:42.183]and faithfully documents where's the research
[00:03:44.923]behind a lot of these claims.
[00:03:47.463]So, read that for your enjoyment.
[00:03:51.483]This is a figure that you added in there,
[00:03:54.783]Humberto, that talks about some of the ethics
[00:03:57.483]of why I am doing what I'm doing,
[00:03:59.623]and maybe what the rest of you are doing, too,
[00:04:02.523]because if you look at
[00:04:05.883]soil organic concentration over here on this axis.
[00:04:09.603]This is just a concept piece, isn't it, Humberto?
[00:04:14.683]It's not technically based on solid data,
[00:04:17.263]but it's just a concept of the way soil organic carbon
[00:04:21.383]has changed over time,
[00:04:23.043]and various ways we can mitigate those losses
[00:04:27.523]and one of those is cover crops.
[00:04:29.064]And that's why it's fun to be part of
[00:04:31.263]this new adventure for me.
[00:04:33.923]But I say it's a new adventure,
[00:04:35.163]and then you look at this kind of chart
[00:04:36.663]that Daren put together.
[00:04:38.723]We'll be talking about this at the crop production clinics
[00:04:42.243]this year, so this is in draft form now.
[00:04:44.923]But Daren put this together.
[00:04:46.563]The names in blue there are Agronomy members.
[00:04:49.523]But, when you get here you say,
[00:04:51.064]"Well, gosh, there are people who have gone before us."
[00:04:53.723]Lyon and Hergerts paper was just published.
[00:04:56.603]David Nielsen from Akron, Ohio,
[00:04:58.234]or Colorado, was part of that study, just published.
[00:05:01.413]They've done a lot of work on cover crops
[00:05:02.933]in very dry environments, out in the panhandle.
[00:05:06.353]Dan Walters was part of the project here,
[00:05:08.774]was following soybeans back in the early '90s
[00:05:12.353]is when that work was done.
[00:05:14.293]Power and Koerner was with USDA,
[00:05:16.593]has done a lot of work on that.
[00:05:18.613]But here, in addition to these Agronomy members,
[00:05:21.353]Mary Drewnoski in animal science is working hard
[00:05:24.073]on cover crops alongside the rest of us.
[00:05:28.253]I'll scan this list, Chris Proctor is there.
[00:05:30.533]Paul Jasa, I can't forget.
[00:05:32.873]Paul's doing a lot of work just out at the Rogers farm
[00:05:35.733]just east of town.
[00:05:37.033]Suat Irmak is doing work around the state,
[00:05:39.633]some of it in seed production fields.
[00:05:43.593]Bill Krantz up at Northeast is doing work on cover crops.
[00:05:46.653]I'll highlight one of our studies that we're working
[00:05:49.033]with him on soon.
[00:05:50.913]Keith Glewen, Laura Thompson,
[00:05:52.643]with the On-Farm Research Network
[00:05:55.043]are doing work on cover crops.
[00:05:57.403]So, there's a lot of work that has happened
[00:05:59.544]and is going on.
[00:06:01.523]I'm gonna highlight this project right now,
[00:06:03.363]that's funded by the Soybean and Corn Board, briefly.
[00:06:06.603]You can see the PI's on that,
[00:06:09.083]including a lot of people in this room.
[00:06:11.283]Richard's here and Tom, or Charles Shapiro,
[00:06:15.383]and several others are here, some are not.
[00:06:19.263]Working with lots of people from across the state.
[00:06:22.743]Four locations for this study,
[00:06:24.103]sponsored by the Corn and Soybean Board
[00:06:25.903]two dryland in the east,
[00:06:28.303]and then the two irrigated ones in south central,
[00:06:30.923]and the last one there near Colorado, is at Brule.
[00:06:35.583]So, Tim Shaver's helping coordinate that.
[00:06:39.163]The idea of the study is this is one schematic of it
[00:06:43.263]we're working in corn-soybean systems,
[00:06:46.393]and continuous corn systems.
[00:06:48.003]So, three cropping systems.
[00:06:50.923]The idea is that we're seeding cover crops
[00:06:53.703]about dense stage on corn.
[00:06:56.063]So, we're overseeding, trying to simulate
[00:06:58.523]aerial seeding there.
[00:06:59.963]But we're also coming in,
[00:07:01.604]so that would be a period like this.
[00:07:03.524]We're also coming in after harvest and drilling
[00:07:08.163]five different species of cover crops,
[00:07:10.423]or I guess a mixture's there, included.
[00:07:14.083]So, we're working in those four locations
[00:07:16.743]with these kinds of systems.
[00:07:18.403]In addition to corn-soybean systems,
[00:07:20.443]and soybean-corn systems,
[00:07:22.203]we're working in continuous corn systems, too.
[00:07:25.304]Here's some photographs
[00:07:26.423]of what it looked like just a few weeks ago,
[00:07:29.383]broadcast into standing corn and standing soybeans.
[00:07:32.763]Those are our five different experimental treatments there,
[00:07:36.463]with a cocktail on your right, this seven species mix
[00:07:41.083]that the green cover folks fixed up for us,
[00:07:45.003]and then a combination of the other species there, as well.
[00:07:49.943]I think I'll pass on the graph that talks about data,
[00:07:53.353]other than to show that we've got a lot of interactions.
[00:07:57.793]This is spring, dry matter on the part
[00:08:00.313]of the cover crops here.
[00:08:03.413]A lot of interactions.
[00:08:04.533]You can see at Brule, basically we had no growth at all.
[00:08:08.593]So, that's part of,
[00:08:09.433]I think Corby talked about bookending our studies.
[00:08:13.013]We've got the best of both,
[00:08:15.093]absolutely nothing to pretty good growth and responses.
[00:08:19.633]Angela's working on a study where she's looking
[00:08:22.113]at five different planting dates for cover crops.
[00:08:24.894]And they're in the right part of the table here.
[00:08:28.234]From planting at the same time
[00:08:29.593]that corn and soybeans are planted.
[00:08:31.733]Actually, we're only in corn here.
[00:08:33.993]Also, V8 to V9 on corn,
[00:08:35.673]R5 right before harvest and right after harvest.
[00:08:38.974]So, she just started that at two locations.
[00:08:41.473]Havelock, which is just east of town here.
[00:08:44.933]On Havelock, and then out at Clay Center.
[00:08:47.933]Also, it's got several species involved there,
[00:08:49.893]and you can see that.
[00:08:51.633]Here's, I'll flash you a couple pictures here.
[00:08:53.954]This is what happens when you plant,
[00:08:55.873]that top one is rye with corn.
[00:08:59.133]At the same time that corn is planted, a lot of stress.
[00:09:02.913]She just is pulling harvest right now,
[00:09:05.883]but I don't think you need statistics
[00:09:07.653]for some of these comparisons, like this one.
[00:09:10.393]Yields will be reduced versus the control.
[00:09:13.193]Same with the corn in the mixture.
[00:09:15.273]Gets a little better when you add,
[00:09:17.373]well not radish,
[00:09:18.073]but it gets a little better when you add vetch.
[00:09:20.573]And the soybean really was not competitive
[00:09:22.313]with the corn at all.
[00:09:24.513]It's a little bit better when she broadcast at dense stage,
[00:09:28.573]as you can see in these next photographs here.
[00:09:32.733]So, a lot of changes, a lot of interactions.
[00:09:35.274]I'll close out by talking about one,
[00:09:37.573]another study that Chris Proctor helped think about.
[00:09:40.693]This is one that we're working with Bill Krantz on.
[00:09:43.033]Bill Krantz is up at Northeast,
[00:09:45.213]where we've got seven different hybrids of corn
[00:09:47.733]from 80 to 115 day hybrids.
[00:09:50.493]A couple planting dates, different populations,
[00:09:52.393]but the idea here, what's the trade-off
[00:09:54.953]between corn yield with these early and late season hybrids
[00:09:59.053]and the ability to get cover crops planted sooner.
[00:10:02.653]So, that's what we've done here.
[00:10:04.753]This has not been processed at all,
[00:10:06.673]other than Excel,
[00:10:07.693]so they're just fresh data.
[00:10:09.773]But I just wanted to show you,
[00:10:11.293]I think this conceptualizes what we're thinking.
[00:10:14.272]When you plant the early seeds in the 80-day hybrid,
[00:10:16.992]about 150, 160 bushel yields up to about 258, 260
[00:10:22.013]with 115-day hybrids.
[00:10:24.072]So, those are corn yields.
[00:10:25.912]This is just Clay Center data here.
[00:10:29.312]But when you add in, the idea of the 80-day hybrid
[00:10:32.712]is that when it gets down to 18% moisture content,
[00:10:35.872]and we modeled that,
[00:10:36.972]then you should be able to harvest that
[00:10:39.173]and plant cover crops.
[00:10:40.152]So, that's what I'm simulating here,
[00:10:42.372]planting cover crops when that 80-day hybrid
[00:10:44.892]was planted.
[00:10:46.372]But then I'm looking at heat units based at 32.77 systems,
[00:10:50.872]so it's a 0.25 degree Celsius heat unit comparison
[00:10:55.352]that's used for cool season grasses.
[00:10:57.752]You can see that we get a lot more heat unit accumulation.
[00:11:01.412]It just makes sense.
[00:11:02.212]You're planting maybe a month earlier,
[00:11:04.452]if you can harvest then.
[00:11:06.312]So, there's a trade-off between getting the cover crop
[00:11:09.572]planted early and getting dry matter establishment,
[00:11:11.873]and reducing corn yields.
[00:11:14.732]So, what I also did is took those heat units
[00:11:18.093]actually through Tuesday of this week,
[00:11:20.892]the third of November,
[00:11:22.372]and calculated how many leaves would those cover crops have
[00:11:25.973]based on about 112 heat units
[00:11:29.383]per leaf of production there.
[00:11:31.633]So, you can see, we might have,
[00:11:33.243]if we could've seeded right then,
[00:11:34.903]an eight-leaf rye plant,
[00:11:37.063]which would mean probably a rye plant with two to three
[00:11:40.383]tillers on it, six-leaf.
[00:11:42.543]So, there's a dramatic difference here
[00:11:44.123]between the two-leaf rye plant now,
[00:11:47.983]and an eight-leaf plant.
[00:11:49.223]So, that's the direction we're hoping to go.
[00:11:51.003]That's kind of conceptual,
[00:11:52.063]but that's the idea.
[00:11:53.744]So, with that, as you're thinking about your questions,
[00:11:58.123]I can get this.
[00:12:01.563]So, do you have questions?
[00:12:02.763]I might have a minute.
[00:12:04.423]Here's a time-lapse that Justin put together.
[00:12:06.663]Radish, you can see where the crops are.
[00:12:08.723]Basically a 28-day cycle of where you can see
[00:12:12.803]that the radish and the vetch and the rye
[00:12:16.023]and the mixture is growing.
[00:12:17.454]But you know, I picture this as a scientist.
[00:12:22.102]The full circle is that scientists are stewards.
[00:12:26.502]And how can we be good stewards
[00:12:28.893]of the resources that we have.
[00:12:30.673]And that's why I'm excited to be a part of
[00:12:32.512]what we are doing.
[00:12:34.012]Thank you.
[00:12:35.492](applause)

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