IT’S BEEN SAID that change is the only constant in life, and at the 2020 National No-Tillage Conference, Indiana-based conservation ag consultants Hans Kok and Dan Towery told attendees that philosophy pertains to farming practices, too.

A LONG-TIME strip-tiller, Marty Weiss has been conservation-minded for years. But he’s taken inspiration from the recent widespread focus on soil health and in the past few years tackled several new practices, including no-till, strip cropping, interseeding cover crops in both 30-inch and 60-inch corn, planting green and even seeding covers for regenerative grazing.

Prior to the Green Revolution, cover crops were very common in cash crop rotations, as they were recognized as being useful for fixing nitrogen (N), suppressing weeds and preventing erosion.

There are so many different ways to seed cover crops, it can be challenging for growers to choose which one will best suit their operation’s needs and be most effective at establishing the cover. There are pros and cons and costs to each approach, which can make it all the more difficult to figure out which one will work best for your acres.

Results of the first annual Cover Crop Benchmark Study show a healthy level of enthusiasm and success among farmers with cover crops as they seek to protect their farms from erosion, reduce input costs and improve soil health on their operations.