Fargo, North Dakota, USA
August 21, 2019
Visitors learn about NDSU cover crop research. (NDSU photo)
Opportunities to incorporate cover crops into various cropping systems will be the focus of a North Dakota State University Extension field day Tuesday, Sept. 17.
Presenters will discuss and demonstrate the benefits of cover crops and how they can be used as part of an interseeding system in wheat, corn and soybeans.
Educational sessions and field visits will be at the NDSU campus research plots 0.4 mile west of the corner of 18th Street and 15th Avenue North in Fargo. Registration will begin at 8 a.m. and sessions will end at 3 p.m.
The field day will highlight 20 different cover crop species and how they can be incorporated into a farming operation or used for fall grazing.
Other topics include:
- Cover crops and soil health
- Benefits and challenges of cover crops
- Forage sorghum and grazing mixtures
- The results of seeding timing
- Rate of rye and camelina seeded into standing corn or soybeans
In addition, participants will visit the NDSU field research and demonstration plots near Reile’s Acres, N.D., by bus. Stops include a research area with cover crop interseeded into soybeans; a research site investigating the effect of fall-seeded cover crops, after wheat harvest, on the following soybean crop; and a cowpea demonstration showing various types of cowpeas.
After lunch, researchers will present results of interseeding camelina and rye into corn and sugarbeets, and the use of cover crops to manage soybean cyst nematodes. The program will conclude with a panel discussion, which will include a question-and-answer session.
“I have worked with interseeding camelina and rye in soybean during the past few summers,” says Alan Peterson, a recently graduated master’s student in NDSU’s Plant Sciences Department and one of the field day’s speakers. “Seeding these cover crops into soybean is still a relatively new concept in North Dakota, but I expect greater adoption rates in the future.”
Hans Kandel, NDSU Extension agronomist and a field day presenter, adds, “After soybean harvest, there is not much residue left. Seeding cover crops into soybean is one management strategy to try to increase the soil cover. Our research is trying to answer the feasibility and benefits of interseeding cover crops into standing crops.”
Field day participants will have the opportunity to learn about cover crop research findings as well as interact with other participants who have experience in incorporating cover crops into their farm operations.
Lunch will be provided. Registration is required. Go to https://forms.gle/zy9QnmEXY6nND3cu9 to register online. For more information about the field day and preliminary research results, visit the project’s website at https://www.cropsyscap.org.
This field day is part of the outreach effort associated with a National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded to North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station scientists (Award no. 2016-69004-24784, “CropSys - A novel management approach to increase productivity, resilience, and long-term sustainability of cropping systems in the northern Great Plains”). The project’s director is Marisol Berti from NDSU’s Department of Plant Sciences, and she will be presenting results of the grant at the field day.
The grant research aims to study how cover crops can increase the resiliency and productivity of crops such as corn and soybeans, and improve soil health and land use efficiency.
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