By Kirsten Workman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n View the Newsletter in Full Here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n This article is based on:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n George Foster and son Jeremy manage crop production on the Foster\nfamily\u2019s fifth generation 2,200-acre dairy farm in Addison County, Vermont. They\ngrow 550 acres of corn silage, 300 acres of soybeans, 100 acres of small grains,\nand 1,250 acres hay\/haylage each year on their farm, which is predominated by\nVergennes heavy clay soils. The family not only sells milk\nthrough the Agri-Mark Family Dairy Farms\u00ae cooperative where it is made into\nworld-famous cheese, but they also operate Vermont Natural Ag Products\u2014home of\nthe Moo™ line of compost and soil amendment products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Today George has become a humble, yet impactful leader of a soil\nhealth movement in Vermont. While the farm has always had a conservation ethic,\nGeorge and Jeremy have dramatically changed their cropping systems over the\nlast eight years. After some failed attempts at no-till 20 years ago, George\nattended the UVM Extension No-Till and Cover Crop Symposium and that was when\nhe knew he could make it work on their farm. He had a solid vision and took a\npragmatic approach to implantation of these practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Fosters agreed to help us investigate on the economic\nplusses and minuses of cover cropping and no-till through a state Natural\nResource Conservation Service (NRCS), Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Making the Transition<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n After acquiring a new no-till corn planter in 2012, the Fosters\nbegan transitions by applying no-till on their lighter soils utilized for corn\nsilage, and then fields going into first-year corn silage on their clay fields,\nwhile simultaneously adding cover cropping. Paying good attention to nitrogen\nmanagement was key to maintaining and increasing yields. Adjusting equipment\nwas important, and they now have a roller-crimper and no-till drill in addition\nto the no-till corn planter. All of their crops and cover crops are now no-till\nand they grow their own cover crop seed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why Cover Crops?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When you ask George why he grows cover crops, he\u2019ll tell you, \u201cIt\u2019s what makes no-till work!\u201dHe\u2019s\nsure it\u2019s the reason no-till didn\u2019t work 20 years ago when they first tried it.\nHe explains that the cover crop roots open the soil while the leaves protect\nthe soil surface. He has observed many of the benefits we often espouse like\nimproved water infiltration\/management, increased organic matter, increased\nsoil biology, improved soil structure, reduced compaction, and resilient crops\nleading to more reliable yields which are less stressed by weather extremes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cost of Entry<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Cost of entry of conservation practices is a common challenge and\nconcern for producers. To manage these costs, spacing out investments,\nborrowing equipment, hiring custom work, cost sharing and grant funding are all\nways producers manage these investments. Foster Brothers Farm utilized all\nthese approaches. Out-of-pocket expenses made up roughly 53% of the equipment\ncost. Divided over their corn acres, the equipment was paid for in 5 years. Including\nsoybeans and small grains, it only took 3 years to see a return on investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Changes in Costs Associated with Cover Crops and No-Till<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In this project we calculated economic cost estimates (not actual\ncash expenses), with producer interviews and the NRCS Machinery Cost estimator\n(Cover Crop Economics Tool, version 3.1). Foster Brothers Farm saw an increase\nin costs related to planting the cover crop and use of a roller crimper for\ntermination of cover crop. Cost decreases were seen in labor, plowing and\nharrowing (see graph). The net effect of these changes is approximately a $45\n\/ acre decrease in cost as compared to conventional tillage on this farm.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Compared to their previous tillage system, this method requires\nless labor, leads to better crop quality, reduces\/eliminates replanting costs,\nincreases yields, and provides more resiliency to wet springs and dry summers.\nTheir corn yields have been steadily increasing and their soybean fields saw a\nsubstantial increase. More efficient spring operations and changes in new hay\nseedings improved earnings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n George is still tweaking the cover crop system with his soybeans,\nand he is mindful that avoiding compaction is more important than ever. He\nreminds farmers who are trying no-till to be patient in the spring and check\nunderneath the surface before planting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Newsletter Spotlight, From Summer 2020 Newsletter By Kirsten Workman View the Newsletter in Full Here This article is based on: George Foster and son Jeremy manage crop production on the Foster family\u2019s fifth generation 2,200-acre dairy farm in Addison County, Vermont. They grow 550 acres of corn silage, 300 acres of soybeans, 100 acres … Continue reading “Cover Crops & No-Till are a Net Benefit for Foster Brothers Farm”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1049,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[420952,38201,52202],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agronomic-profitability","category-cover-crops","category-no-till-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cvcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cvcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cvcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cvcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1049"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cvcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2623"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cvcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2631,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cvcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2623\/revisions\/2631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cvcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cvcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/cvcrops\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}