Farmer Stories

Who we are

Every farm has a story to tell. These local producers are trying conservation practices, sharing what they've learned, and helping other farmers make informed decisions through real world experience.

Brian Huiras, Jr.

FARMER SPOTLIGHT

Practices:

Cover Crops Planting Green No-Till

Brian follows his winter wheat fields in Spring with a 6-way cover crop species mix. These species include:

Oats- quick fall growth
Tillage Radish- breaks up compaction
Sunflowers- supports pollinators & builds biomass
Austrian Winter Peas- fix nitrogen
Sorghum Sudangrass- lots of biomass
Crimson Clover- more fixed nitrogen

Brian has found this mix consistently produces his best corn every year when no-tilled into it.

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Joel Kasten has been planting green for many years. This past year he planted his corn into last year's winter rye and terminates no more than a few days after planting.

He mentioned his row cleaners, conservation discs, and spike closing wheels make a major difference for his corn when planting this way.

He sees many benefits of this planting system and specifically calls out the fertilizer from the green cover crop he plants into.

Joel Kasten

Jim has been no-tilling his corn and soybeans for 3 years. New last fall he tried planting winter rye into soybean ground that is corn this year. He's excited to see how this turns out for his crops.

Advice: PATIENCE! For no-till you cannot have the expectation of getting your crops in the ground as early as conventional, but he argues these are the best crops he's had and planting is worth the wait.

Jim Luft