Cover Crop Strategies Podcast

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by GS3 Quality Seed, Washington State University agronomist Andrew McGuire discusses his extensive research on the pros and cons of using cover crop mixtures vs. monocultures. After he presents his findings, we’ll then hear from Jasper, Mo., farmer Macauley Kincaid and Rockwell City, Iowa farmer James Hepp as they unpack some of McGuire’s research and offer their own first-hand experience with using cover crops.

For this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by GS3 Quality Seed, I had the opportunity to travel to Jay Baxter’s farm in Georgetown, Del., and talk to him about cover crop seeding and termination methods, his opinion on multi-species cover crop mixes, the rich history of his family farm and much more.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by GS3 Quality Seed, I’m joined by Penn State University graduate student Megan Czekaj, as we discuss her research on best practices for applying residual herbicides when planting green. Her project focuses on cereal rye in soybean systems and delves into termination timing, cover crop biomass levels and lots more.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by GS3 Quality Seed, listen to a conversation with Deer Park, Wis., agronomist Joe Ailts, as he discusses everything from nitrogen for a following corn crop, best cover crop blends following small grain harvest, the most outside-the-box ideas he has encountered as an agronomist and much more.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by GS3 Quality Seed, listen to a conversation with Faulkton, S.D., grower Alex Frasier, as he discusses his unique practice of interseeding a cover crop mix into soybeans and how it has helped him save on fertilizer, fuel and other costs.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, listen to a conversation with Etienne Sutton, a PhD candidate at University of Michigan studying in the Soil & Agroecosystems Lab. She talks about her research on what factors affect cover crop biomass levels and how to improve cover crop performance overall.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, listen to a conversation with grower and cover crop seeding professional, Mike Unruh, as he talks about three different ways to seed cover crops and explains why he disagrees with growers who say cover cropping in colder climates like Minnesota is too difficult.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, listen to a conversation with cover crop expert Steve Groff, who farms in southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Steve talks about how he first came up with the idea to grow his Winter King Hairy Vetch — a particularly winter-hardy variety of cover crop that is able to survive repetitive freeze-thaw cycles.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, listen to a conversation with Rory McDonnell, associate professor at Oregon State University, as he discusses his innovative research on combating slugs and snails in cover cropped fields using bread dough.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, listen to a compilation of audio clips from the 3 most popular episodes of the podcast released in 2023 featuring best practices for aerial seeding cover crops, tips for grazing cover crops, how to use a manure dragline to terminate cover crops and more.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, listen to a conversation with Ben West, executive director of Farmers for Soil Health, and Ryan Heiniger, a 4th generation farmer and executive director of Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC), as they chat about all the details of the Farmers for Soil Health program and what cover croppers need to know about it.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, Marisol Berti, Endowed Professor & Plant Sciences Graduate Program Coordinator at North Dakota State University, discusses her multi-year research on nitrogen and cover crops and attempts to answer the question — can we count the nitrogen credits of cover crops for the following cash crop?

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, listen to a presentation from the Soil Management Summit in Alexandria, Minn., that features Anna Cates, state soil health specialist at the University of Minnesota Extension, and Minnesota no-tiller Tom Pyfferoen, as they discuss how cover crops can help combat drought and what Tom has learned from his on-farm cover crop trials.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, Marshall County, Iowa no-tiller Wade Dooley shares what he learned from his informal trial of seeding a rye cover crop every month of the year. As a 6th generation farmer, Dooley also shares why he believes communication is the most important thing when transitioning a family farm from one generation to the next.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, Morgan Jennings, field crops viability coordinator with Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI), discusses PFI’s cover crop cost share program as well as her cover crop research on grazing corn residue in the spring.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, listen to Rob Myers, director of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture at the University of Missouri, as he discusses 4 alternative cover crops and how to manage each one. Myers talks about buckwheat, millet, canola and sunflowers.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by SOURCE® from Sound Agriculture, listen to Gary Zimmer giving a presentation at his farm in Spring Green, Wis. Zimmer, who many refer to as the “father of biological farming,” talks about his farmer origin story and why rye is so important in keeping his soil covered.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Go Seed, a panel of 3 farmers discuss how they use cover crops with their varying tillage practices. Jim Stute of East Troy, Wis.; Tim Recker of Arlington, Iowa; and Jacob Bolson of Hubbard, Iowa, talk about their own trial and error periods of adopting cover crops and what they’ve learned through the process.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Go Seed, listen to a presentation from the 2022 National Cover Crop Summit featuring South Dakota father-and-son farmer duo Barry and Eli Little. They explain how their 2,500 acres of cropland and pastureland have improved by incorporating covers and ruminant animals on every acre, as well as how they use rotational grazing with their cattle and the economic benefits they’ve enjoyed from implementing covers and livestock.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies Podcast, brought to you by Go Seed, Oliver Peoples, president and CEO of Metabolix Yield 10 Bioscience company, discusses camelina, its benefits as a cool-season cover crop and potential incentives for farmers to grow camelina.