How many farmers growing on small acreage here use cover crops
Heard Ben Hartman's podcast on farmer to farmer podcast. He mentions he doesn't use cover crops on his small farm as cover crops are a waste of time and space (or that's what I heard) and instead uses 50 yards or so of compost to build soil. Now cover crops, fertilizers, amendments all serve a purpose and have their place in a farm. I understand managing cover crops is another level of management and requires knowledge. Bringing a large amount of good quality compost would have been too expensive for me. Additionally, often times, the compost comes from unreliable sources. How many farmers growing on small acreage here use cover crops in their fields in winter or when you aren't actively growing ? I put a small portion of my farm space to cover crop (Rye, winter wheat). I used a third of an acre of my total farm space to production last year. I just don't think putting compost on top of existing soil is only way to go. Or maybe I just wasted space in cover cropping.
#Everything has good and bad points. We make our own compost – but bro in law worked for the ONLY fully certified compost maker in N Calif – supposedly organic. Tried one bit from the truckloads he has loaded his garden with – he wanted us to try it.
It didn't let anything grow. It was so disappointing. i don't care that he had temp sensors all over the pile, that he inoculated, that he turned it before it reached 160 degrees, that….. It didn't grow things.
Ours does. Cover crops also work too, and they can do soil structural things more quickly than putting on tons of compost that i can't afford..
#I think the cover crops are a waste of space and can be completely replaced by compost amendments argument is too reductive. There is a lot more to cover crops than just organic matter and nutrient additions. The cover crops are a key component in maintaining the food webs in the soil as well as maintaining and improving the physical properties of the soil. These benefits cannot be realized through the addition of compost.
#Everything has good and bad points. We make our own compost – but bro in law worked for the ONLY fully certified compost maker in N Calif – supposedly organic. Tried one bit from the truckloads he has loaded his garden with – he wanted us to try it.
It didn't let anything grow. It was so disappointing. i don't care that he had temp sensors all over the pile, that he inoculated, that he turned it before it reached 160 degrees, that….. It didn't grow things.
Ours does. Cover crops also work too, and they can do soil structural things more quickly than putting on tons of compost that i can't afford..
#I think the cover crops are a waste of space and can be completely replaced by compost amendments argument is too reductive. There is a lot more to cover crops than just organic matter and nutrient additions. The cover crops are a key component in maintaining the food webs in the soil as well as maintaining and improving the physical properties of the soil. These benefits cannot be realized through the addition of compost.