Cover crops remain popular

There is a very strong interest in cover crops this year thanks to weed control issues.

Producers with fields free of weeds say they have a good herbicide program and cover crop program as well. Cover crops can also help reduce erosion, among other things.

“We like to have our dealers be able to work with the grower and sit down to start creating a system for their farm,” explained Doug Hanson, cover crop lead for ProHarvest Seeds.

An easy way to get started with cover crops involves flying oats and radishes into soybeans. This is considered extremely low-risk since it winterkills. Also, if a field is going into soybeans next year, ProHarvest offers a bonus mix with winter rye, barley and rapeseed.

“It’s actually a very easy to manage mix both for getting it established in the fall and managing it in the spring,” said Hanson.

Farmers are seeing the best weed control through the different soybean platforms paired with the bonus mix. Hanson has been heavily involved with cover crops for a number of years and the big change in that time is that soybeans are not strictly Roundup anymore.

“When we look at the Enlist and Xtend platforms, those are really working well with implementing a cover crop system.”

The entire cover crop system becomes more effective by having the proper tools for a good herbicide post program utilizing Liberty or Enlist. This year’s nice price rally means there are some great opportunities out there with all of the different genetic platforms available.

“Even though we went through a lot of issues here in 2020, we still think these counties right in here have a good opportunity to have a good corn yield,” Hanson added.

Wheat has become another popular option this season and ProHarvest can help as wheat can be a good way to change things up a bit. Hanson believes local ProHarvest dealers are a great resource of bringing solutions to farmers.

Hanson spoke last month representing ProHarvest at Shorty Stork’s field night near Chenoa.