Planting cover crops in between six-week old corn and soybean rows?

Feb 11, 2016

InterSeeder allows farmers to do just that

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Have you ever thought about planting cover crops like winter wheat, rye and alfalfa only weeks after planting corn and soybean?

If so, there’s now a tool that allows farmers to do just that.

The InterSeeder, an attachment developed by researchers including Corey Dillon at Penn State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, travels between the row crops and can give farmers a head start on planting their cover crops.

Dillon estimates that with the InterSeeder, farmers can plant cover crops about six weeks after corn or soybean planting.

InterSeeder

“The reason we plant the cover crop early in the season is to ensure that it is well-established by fall so that it can provide the multiple benefits to the farmland and help improve water quality,” he said in an article for the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pennsylvania. If we can have well-established cover crops going into the fall and winter we can dramatically reduce the amount of soil loss and nutrient loss into the ground water and streams.”

Dillon said planting cover crops early can also provide forage for livestock, reduce soil compaction and suppress weeds.

The idea for the InterSeeder came in 2010 when a study was being performed to evaluate the effects of removing corn stover (the leftover stalks and leaves from harvest) for cellulosic ethanol production.

Doing so removes nutrients from the soil and leaves it vulnerable to erosion. Paired with the fact that by harvest, weather can change and there aren’t enough hours in a day, Dillon had the idea to plant cover crops early.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.