July 2023 issue of the Farmworx Magazine

July 2023
First-generation farmer James Hepp
ed to soybeans the next spring. It’s
more difficult to screw that up,” said
Hepp, whose goal is to have all of his
soybean acres in cover crops.
2. Try different seeding options.
Late summer (mid-August to early
September) is an ideal time to seed
cover crops. “When we’ve seeded
cover crops into standing corn at
that time, I’ve had 3-inch-tall rye going
into harvest,” Hepp said. “Running
the combine over that is nice,
because it’s like driving on turf.” To
seed his cover crops, Hepp has used
aerial seeding from an airplane to
hiring a local farmer with vertical tillage
equipment. Hepp is looking into
drone technology for seeding clover
and other cover crops. He also has
an air seeder he can put on his Hagie
high-clearance applicator and is
studying the best way to make this
work.
3. Test your results. In late May
2023, Hepp clipped a 3-foot by
3-foot sample of his rye cover crop
and sent the sample to Regen Ag
Lab in Pleasanton, Nebraska. (Regen
Ag Lab provides accurate, reliable
testing services surrounding
the principles of soil health and regenerative
agriculture.) The results
shocked Hepp. “Along with 2.2 tons
of dry matter, the sample showed
110 pounds of potassium and 22
pounds of phosphorus,” said Hepp,
who noted that’s enough potassium
to produce 85-bushel-per-acre soybeans.
“This wasn’t even my best rye
cover crop, but the tests showed the
rye has scavenged a lot of nutrients.”
While many of Iowa’s rich soils
contain abundant nutrients, the
chemistry and composition of certain
soils can make it tough for plants to
absorb these nutrients. Beneficial
soil microbes linked with cover crops
can help “unlock” this natural fertilizer.
“These nutrients are in an organic
form that’s like a slow-release fertilizer
that feeds the crops,” Hepp said.
In some cases, this can help lower
the fertilizer bill, or it allows farmers
to reallocate fertilizer resources for
more timely, strategic applications.
“I’ve cut back on dry fertilizer applications
and am using more liquid, foliar
feeding during the growing season,”
Hepp said. “This allows me to ‘spoon
feed’ my crop the nutrients it needs,
when it needs them.”
Cover crops also help suppress
weeds, which can help reduce herbicide
applications. “I try to do only one
post-emerge herbicide pass, if I can,”
Hepp said. “Also, with cover crops in
soybeans, I’m able to skip a residual
herbicide pass and get better weed
suppression, which normally pays for
the cost of the cover crop.”
Roughly 70 people gathered at Hepp Farms near
Rockwell City to learn about making cover crops pay.
4. Set goals. Hepp can’t forget all
the “snirt” (dirty snow) that covered
the Iowa landscape following a blizzard
right before Christmas 2022.
“Seeing all that black soil in the ditches
broke my heart. It also reminded
me why building soil health and holding
that valuable soil in place is my
top goal with cover crops.”
Hepp’s second goal is to increase
efficiency and save time. He has reduced
tillage, thanks to strip tillage
and no-till, and he’s finding ways to
make cover crops work with this system.
Hepp’s third goal for his cover
crops revolves around ROI. He plans
to seed more diverse species of cover
crops, since each one supports
certain microbes that provide specific
soil health benefits. “Clovers help the
microbes that play a role with nitrogen
fixation,” Hepp said. “This potentially
helps you lower your nitrogen
fertilizer bill.” Hepp is also interested
in developing an additional income
stream through custom cover- crop
seeding and raising rye for cover
crop seed.
5. Make cover crops part of your
farm management plan. Now that
he has experience seeding cover
crops on corn acres that will be planted
to soybeans, he’s experimenting
with the best ways to use cover crops
on soybean acres that will be planted
to corn next spring. “If you’re serious
about cover crops, you need to make
them part of your farm management
to-do list,” Hepp said.
Hepp encourages other farmers
to take advantage of cover crop costshare
opportunities through Practical
Farmers of Iowa and other organizations.
Also, seek out other farmers
with cover-crop experience, and
find online resources like XtremeAg’s
Cutting the Curve podcast, he advised.
“I’ve cut my learning curve this
way, and I want to help others learn.
If you want cover crops on your acres
and are willing to put some effort into
this, cover crops will work for you.”
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