IARN — A Minnesota agronomist and soil health consultant is helping teach farmers about the benefits of 60-inch corn row spacings.
At the Iowa Forage and Grassland Council’s annual conference on Wednesday, Minnesota farmer Cody Nelson hosted a seminar titled, “Making cover crops work in the Upper Corn Belt.” He tells IARN that livestock farmers can produce much more cover crop between rows when they implement 60-inch spacings.
“We’re trying to grow the same amount of corn, but we are also trying to produce some cover crops between the rows that can feed cows in different times of the year – spring and fall – maybe so we can get into some more winter grazing, but also so we can increase our soil biological activity,” said Nelson. “We can increase the profitability. Once we start cycling more of those nutrients, we can start to produce some of our own nitrogen and help that profitability. As we all know, input costs are skyrocketing, and we got to do whatever we can on-farm.”
Nelson says this cover crop practice utilizing 60-inch corn row spacings helps result in less disease pressure, among other environmental benefits.
“The first thing is you need to keep a living root in the ground,” he said. “That’s going to do multiple things. It’s going to increase forage production, and it’s also going to hold soil and nutrients in place. We get a multitude of benefits from that. I would say that wherever there is any bare ground, let’s get something planted whether it’s as simple as cereal rye. Whether you’re a cow guy or a livestock guy or not, it does work really well to put in simple cereal rye.”
Nelson talks about what he hopes farmers took away from his cover crop presentation.
“I just want them to do one thing different. I want them to change one thing on their farm. Even if it’s something small, I want them to go out this year in 2022 and try and just make one small change. If everybody can make one small change for the better, then we are going to make this place better yet.”
The Iowa Forage and Grassland Council’s annual conference was held at the Iowa State University Research and Demonstration Farm near Chariton.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
Pictured: Minnesota agronomist and soil health consultant Cody Nelson at the McNay Research Farm near Chariton, Iowa. (Photo by Brent Barnett)
