If You Can’t Buy It, Build It
Jordan knelt beside his homemade interseeder, a planter that threads between young corn rows to sow cover crops. He built the machine himself by modifying an old grain drill. “Nobody’s driving around a 50-year-old car. Why am I farming with a 50-year-old tractor?” Jordan asked.
‘Yes, but how much rain did you keep?’
Improved productivity and profitability follow as soil health improves, making production systems more resilient while reducing risks to the environment. This became the focus of my Extension programs and why I’m working with the Nebraska Soil Health Coalition (NHSC) to help producers adopt practices to improve soil health.
Finding the sweet spot for interseeding corn
In an effort to control weeds and build healthy soils, south central Nebraska farmer Jordan Uldrich interseeded his corn rows with a cover crop mix.
He timed the work planning to catch corn at the right growth stage where the cover crop won’t compete for growth and the drill won’t damage the corn when the covers are seeded. It’s also nice to find a chance of rain in the forecast to help establish the cover crop as soon as possible.
A supportive team for soil health
Ag producers don’t need to be reminded of the challenging circumstances battering the industry right now. Seemingly every farmer and rancher is weighed down by growing disparity between income and expense, catastrophizing weather events and boomeranging government policies.