Cover Crop Strategies Podcast

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies Podcast, brought to you by Go Seed, listen to a popular presentation from a previous National Cover Crop Summit featuring Dean Sponheim. Sponheim, a fourth-generation farmer from Osage, Iowa, who has been aerial seeding cover crops since 2012, discusses how to handle common aerial seeding challenges, recommended rate of establishment for aerial seeding, which species of cover crops do best when aerial seeded and much more.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies Podcast, brought to you by Go Seed, Tyler Williams and Zach Larson, sustainable systems agronomists with Bayer, share details on a program called ForGround, which aims to assist and provide support to farmers who are adopting or expanding regenerative agriculture practices. Williams and Larson also chat about what factors they consider when providing advice to farmers in a variety of different regions.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies Podcast, brought to you by Go Seed, Charlie Morrey, a multimedia agricultural journalist with Agriland in Dublin, Ireland, talks about Irish regenerative farming practices, some of the biggest struggles that farmers in Ireland and other parts of Europe face and how U.S. farmers can learn from them. Charlie also talks about her experience growing up on an arable farm on the Isle of Man.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies Podcast, brought to you by the National Strip-Tillage Conference, Aries Haygood of Vidalia, Ga., talks about his unconventional path into the world of agriculture and how he first started learning about cover crops. Haygood also talks about what equipment works best for him as a grower of Georgia’s famous Vidalia Onions, which are known to have a very sweet flavor due to the low amount of sulfur in the soil in that part of Georgia.

While using herbicides to terminate cover crops is a common practice for many growers, some are looking for mechanical methods instead. In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, Scott Healy of Hartford, S.D., joins us for a discussion about his experience using a manure dragline to terminate cover crops. Healy also discusses the difference between oats and cereal rye as a cover crop on his farm, chopping corn silage and much more.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., Roy Pfaltgraff of Haxtun, Colo., talks about the unique cover crop strategies that he uses in his operation at Pfaltzgraff Farms. Roy grows 14 different crops with only 16 inches of precipitation, something he calls an arid region solution to the many challenges of cover crops.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., assistant editor Mackane Vogel sits down with Jeff Gaska, who farms outside of Beaver Dam, Wis. Gaska uses almost every soil health practice in the book to build healthy soil and farm profitability. He focuses on grazing and frost seeding, but he also does fall cover cropping, no-till and interseeding. Listen to this episode to find out why Jeff thinks it’s important to incorporate not just one, but all components of the soil health holy grail.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., Ryan Schmid, a research scientist and agroecologist at the Ecdysis Foundation in South Dakota, gives a preview into his upcoming presentation at the 2023 National Cover Crop Summit. His presentation features a “how-to” guide and background info on how Ryan turned tillage equipment into a roller crimper for terminating cover crops. He says if he can do it, anyone can.

No matter where or what you farm, your operation can benefit from cover crops. Planting covers improves soil biology, increases water infiltration, saves money and more. In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Montag Manufacturing, Seth Watkins of southern Iowa joins us for a discussion about the benefits of incorporating cover crops into your operation specifically as a means to stay committed to improving soil health, conserving the land and keeping our waters clean.

In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Montag Mfg., Brian Ward of Clemson University's Coastal Research and Education Center in Charleston, S.C., joins us for a discussion about maximizing the benefits of cover crops in vegetable and organic systems. Ward also discusses some of his research on organic watermelon growth and its relation to pollen and bees.

As 2022 comes to a close, we’re revisiting some of the most-played episodes of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by SOURCE by Sound Agriculture. Listen in as we count down the top three most-played episodes of 2022, featuring insight the economic returns of grazing beef cattle on cover crops, the costs of cover crops compared to tillage and soil compaction, and reducing fertilizer use with cover crops.

On this week’s edition of Cover Crop Strategies, brought to you by SOURCE® by Sound Agriculture, Jim Denys of Parkhill, Ont., Dean Jackson of Columbia Crossroads, Penn., and Lucinda Stuenkel of Palmer, Kan., join us for a panel discussion about the benefits of incorporating cover crops into your operation — wherever you farm.

This week’s episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Source by Sound Agriculture, features an interview with Andrew Moore, the Executive Director at the National Agricultural Aviation Association.

This week’s episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast features John Wallace, an Assistant Professor of Weed Science at Pennsylvania State University. Wallace talks about why the V4-V5 stage of corn growth is the best time to put cover crops on 30-inch corn. That period allows for cover crop development before the canopy closes.

2022 Strip-Till Innovator award winner Bryan Ryberg farms 5,200 acres in Buffalo Lake, Minn. He was the first grower to strip-till sugar beets in Minnesota. Cover crops are everywhere on Ryberg’s farm. He’s particularly partial to cereal rye for weed and erosion control. In this episode of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, editor Michaela Paukner talks to Ryberg about his practices, including cover crops, about preserving soil health, and more.

On this episode of Cover Crop Strategies, brought to you by Source by Sound Agriculture, cover cropper and no-tiller Jesse Horn talks about his new approach, and about how expanded from a seed dealer into a full-service equipment dealer under the brand Big H Ag Supply, and more.

We’re taking the show on the road this week to Boone, Iowa, for a look at some of the cover crop equipment on display at the Farm Progress Show. For this episode of Cover Crop Strategies, brought to you by Verdesian Life Sciences, we’ll hear from APV-America’s Cameron White, Yetter’s Andy Thompson, Unverferth’s Andy Unverferth and Mandako’s Mark Lussier. They’ll showcase their company’s products and talk about the latest trends in the cover crop world. Videos from the conversations in this podcast can be found on the Cover Crop Strategies video page.

Wisconsin dairyman Chris Conley was motivated to make mammoth changes on his farm after attending a Dodge County Farmers for Healthy Soil and Water meeting in 2018. Almost five years later he’s gone from full tillage to 100% no-till and planting green across his 120 acres in Neosho, Wis.

You'll be hard pressed to find someone who knows more about soil health than Jay Fuhrer. The soil health specialist spent nearly 40 years with the USDA and is now pushing the envelope at the Menoken Conservation Demonstration Farm just east of Bismarck, N.D. In this edition of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by Verdesian Life Sciences, Fuhrer shares some key observations from Menoken, in addition to breaking down the 5 principles of soil health: soil armor, minimal soil disturbance, plant diversity, continual living plant/root and livestock integration.

Myron Sylling farms over 1,600 acres with his brother, Mikal, in Spring Grove, Minnesota. Through various on-farm research trials, the Sylling brothers have been able to get an accurate read on the benefits of cover crops in their no-till system. On this week’s edition of Cover Crop Strategies, brought to you by Verdesian Life Sciences, Myron details how cover crops are paying off, from scavenging nutrients to increasing soil organic matter by 1%. Myron also explains the importance of on-farm testing and shares a valuable tip that could help prevent yield loss when planting green with corn.