By Dean Thomas
Area Soil Health Technician
The soils on your farm cannot be taken for granted. Protection from water and wind eroding the soil away has been stressed for decades. By keeping your soils not only “in place” but also to keep them as healthy and productive as possible, you need to feed the “livestock” underground too.
Your soil is full of living organisms (livestock), many so small you need a microscope to see them. Without them, the soil would be simply inert sand, silt and clay particles. Central to maintaining these healthy organisms is to supply them with actively growing roots. Admittedly, there are challenges to do this after late harvested crops, but where crops are harvested early, like canning crops and corn silage, and the field would otherwise lie fallow, cover crops can readily fit in.
What is a cover crop? They are plants that are grown to suppress weeds, help build and improve soil, and control diseases and pests. The can also be used for another feed source for livestock producers. To learn more about incorporating cover crops into your farming system, contact Dean Thomas in the Fillmore SWCD office, dean.thomas@fillmoreswcd.org, or dean.thomas@mn.nacdnet.net.