Dr. Matthew Ryan with the Cornell University Sustainable Cropping Systems Lab will share results of the Early Cover Crop Interseeding project funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program/NNYADP daily at the August 5-7 Empire Farm Days event in Seneca Falls, NY.
Each day at 1:30pm at the 300-acre agricultural showcase event at Rodman Lott and Son Farms in Seneca Falls, NY, Ryan and a team of Penn State researchers will have a three-way interseeder on exhibit and will talk about how the equipment works and how the interseeding of cover crops at two farms in northern New York performed in tandem with corn crops.
The interseeder developed at Penn State bundles three operations into one implement, permitting farmers to simultaneously seed cover crops while also applying postemergence herbicide and sidedress nitrogen fertilizer to corn, the primary crop of interest.
Although planting winter cover crops, such as annual ryegrass, crimson clover, hairy vetch, and tillage radish can improve soil health, minimize soil runoff, and retain nitrogen for crop use, the use of cover crops is not yet widely adopted.
‘Farmers tell us they do not have time to plant a cover crop in the fall crop after corn is harvested. Researchers at Penn State developed the 3-way interseeder to overcome this problem,’ Ryan says.
The Cover Crops for Northern Climates and Interseeding Demonstration presentations will be made at 1:30pm in the Field Crops demonstration area at Empire Farm Days. Find more information at www.empirefarmdays.com and www.nnyagdev.org.
The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is a farmer-driven research and technical assistance program serving the farming industry in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties. The complete report of the interseeding project is on the NNYADP website at www.nnyagdev.org.
The interseeding project received supplemental funding from the NRCS CIG project titled ‘Maximizing conservation in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed with an innovative new 3-way interseeder for early establishment of cover crops in no-till corn and soybeans.