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Illinois farmer finds success with no-till and cover crops

An Illinois farmer doing strip trials with the Soil Health Partnership says he has seen success with his use of cover crops .

“I’ve been no-tilling for 35 years and I had always hoped to build some organic matter and although I have done that marginally, I just wasn’t satisfied with that. So, we added cover crops to that mix and I think I am achieving more organic matter through that.”

David Moose farms corn and soybeans in central Illinois. He has used cover crops the past six years and last year, he planted them on all 1500 acres. He says there are more advantages than increased organic matter.

“That provides an excellent source of erosion control and in our dry years where we don’t use up all of the nutrients, it will sequester those unused nutrients for the next year’s crop.”

Brownfield interviewed Moose at the recent Soil Health Summit in St. Louis. He says the summit is a great opportunity to discuss successes and failures with other farmers working with the partnership.

Interview with David Moose

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