Intercropping Winter Rye With Corn Silage

View the project final report

Commodities

• Agronomic: corn
• Animal Products: dairy

Practices

• Crop Production: cover crops, intercropping
• Education and Training: demonstration, extension, farmer to farmer, on-farm/ranch research, technical assistance
• Farm Business Management: risk management
• Natural Resources/Environment: soil stabilization
• Soil Management: green manures, organic matter

Wet, cool growing seasons means that harvests are late; this makes it difficult to get winter cover crops planted on time. Two farmers will experiment with planting winter rye when they add nitrogen, which should give good germination rates and dense winter rye stands. They will track germination rates and estimate stand density. They will also eliminate one tractor pass over the fields tha the old technique required, thus reducing soil compaction.