Recent price increases and supply chain shortages for fertilizers, chemicals, and energy have impacted farm profitability and viability. As a result, many Indiana farmers are interested in alternative and more sustainable approaches to maintaining crop productivity and building soil health, such as applying composts to their soils. Applying compost to the soil is common in…Read more about Are You Thinking of Applying Compost to Your Soils?[Read More]
Cover crop
NCR-SARE Funded Awards NCR-SARE Announces 2022 Research and Education Awards – February 1, 2023 NCR-SARE is pleased to announce the projects selected for funding for the 2022 Research and Education competitive grant program. Seventeen (17) projects were awarded a total of more than $3.8 million through this NCR-SARE grant program for researchers and educators involved…Read more about Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) News[Read More]
Attendees at a July field day at the Meigs Horticulture Research Farm in Lafayette, Indiana saw first-hand the potential of cover crops to suppress weeds in a SARE-funded demonstration plot. First, some background: Three cover crop species were sown with a ten-foot drill on September 10, 2021: Oats at 100 lb/acre Cereal rye at 65…Read more about Cover Crop Demonstration Plots Show Weed Suppression Potential[Read More]
In a recent Hoosier Ag Today/CCSI Soil Health Podcast, Stephen Meyers of Purdue Horticulture and Dan Perkins of Perkins Good Earth Farm covered spring management of cover crops on vegetable farms. They discussed a variety of methods for terminating: flail mowing and tarping, roller-crimping, tillage, and killing with herbicide. They pointed out that decisions about…Read more about Cover Crops in May: Soil Health Podcast on Spring Management and Observations of Winter Rye at Pinney Purdue[Read More]
Cover crops have been shown to improve water and soil quality, reduce erosion and capture nutrients. Choosing the right cover crop, however, can be difficult. The Midwest Cover Crops Council (MCCC) —made up of representatives from 12 Midwest states and universities, including Purdue, the province of Ontario and other agricultural stakeholders — is rolling out an improved cover…Read more about Improved Tool can Help Midwest Farmers with Cover Crop Decisions[Read More]
No-till pumpkin podcast starts the specialty crops series in the HAT-Soil Health podcasts from CCSI, Purdue and Hoosier Ag Today.
Cover crops can be a useful conservation practice for improving soil health, scavenging and recycling nutrients, reducing erosion, and contributing to more resilient cropping systems over the long term. Two new extension publications about Cover Crop Recipes for Indiana are available at the Purdue Education Store: https://edustore.purdue.edu/item.asp?Item_Number=AY-356-W https://edustore.purdue.edu/item.asp?Item_Number=AY-357-W There is also a webinar scheduled on Feb….Read more about Cover Crop Recipes for Cover Crop Users in Indiana[Read More]
Daikon radish is a member of Brassica family. It forms a large white tap root like a giant carrot. The tap root (12 to 20 inches long and 2 to 4 inches in diameter) penetrates into the soil leaving 2 to 6 inches protruding above ground. Radishes are cool-season crops. They are best grown with…Read more about Daikon Radish[Read More]
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