If I were to make a list of underutilized crops in American agriculture, buckwheat would be near the top. Buckwheat is a short-season broadleaf grain crop that is very easy to grow and can thrive in hot and dry conditions. As a cover crop, it is renowned for its ability to mineralize phosphorus from the soil as well as provide late-season pollinator habitat.
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Rick Clark of Clark Land & Cattle, Williamsport, Indiana, stands in a field with cover crop covers that will be planted with corn or soybeans. Since farming green, Rick has made significant reductions to inputs while seeing an uplift in cash crop yields.
How to cut input costs while improving cash crop yields
A 27.5 percent decrease in synthetic nitrogen, 49.5 percent decrease in farm diesel, 91.8 percent decrease in MAP (monoammonium phosphate) and a 100 percent decrease in both lime and potash applications – these are just a few of the impressive input reductions Clark Land & Cattle have made from 2011 to 2018 – while improving yield averages year on year.
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A cash crop farmer’s advice for a successful cover crop
A 14-year veteran to cover cropping, Dave has many words of wisdom from lessons learned for his fellow producers venturing into cover crops for the first time.
Read MoreBalansa Clover Showing Potential in Northern Indiana
As we were evaluating our cover crop plots this spring, we spent some time looking at Balansa clover. The specific variety is FIXatioN.
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FIXatioN BALANSA CLOVER OFFERS SOY FARMERS A SECOND CHANCE
Flooding can cause nitrogen leaching or volatilization (microbe conversion) in the soil. One option to combat unfavorable conditions would be to plant FIXatioN balansa clover, a product from Grassland Oregon. FIXatioN will not only grow in water-logged soils, it is a Bio-Massive™ and hardy cover crop that can, in the right conditions, fix up to 200 pounds of nitrogen per acre. FIXatioN’s roots break up compacted soils, fix nitrogen and prepare the soil for the next year’s crop.
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