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Can Taller Cover Crops Help Clean the Water in Farm Country?

Civil Eats

It turns out a system that relies less on row crops isn’t just good for a time- and resource-strapped young farmer. It works as both a cover crop and forage for the cattle, and it’s helping Bedtka build up organic matter in his soil. Any day you can graze is better,” says Bedka. That’s where the sorghum-sudangrass comes in.

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Bringing Back Local Milk, Ice Cream, and Cheese

Civil Eats

From pasture to parlor, its organic, butterfat-rich milk travels less than 10 miles, produced by a herd of Jerseys pasture-raised on the misty coast. A few sleek Jersey cows from the Foggy Bottoms Boys pastures. But that hasn’t been the PCC’s focus, Pheasant says.

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Agricultural Diversification: Practice and Policy

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Who manages land determines which scientific perspectives, crop choices, traditions, and skills shape the landscape, with profound implications for its ecological sustainability. In cropping systems, it may include increasing structural diversity of the crops themselves, as by having cut and uncut strips of alfalfa.

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How to Improve Long-Term Soil Health on Your Farm

Farmbrite

Rotate your crops. Rotating crops is one of the best ways to improve long-term soil health on your farm. There are several types of crop rotation that farmers can implement to maximize the benefits of this practice. Use cover crops. The importance of cover crops lies in their ability to protect and improve soil health.

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The Best Types of Hay to Choose for Your Livestock

Farmbrite

Understanding your soil (loamy, clay, etc), the PH, and the other trace nutrients that are available in your soil is vital to growing healthy crops. Be sure not to over-harvest and give enough time for your crop to regrow. Crops can attract unwanted pests that will also eat the crop.

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Hungry and Seemingly Unstoppable: Grasshoppers Invade Canada’s Prairies

Modern Farmer

Their meals of choice are: barley, oats, corn, soy, wheat, rye and alfalfa, the mainstay commercial crops of prairie farmers. Even if a farmer does spray, there’s often a wait time between the application of a chemical pesticide and when it’s safe to harvest a crop. Crops devoured by grasshoppers. Does it work? Moderately.”

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Commentary: America’s Cropland – Talk Is Cheap When It Comes to Sustainability or Organic Farming

Daily Yonder

One way to reduce agricultural chemicals is planting cover crops in the Fall after the cash crop is harvested. Winter cover crops could mean using less fertilizer and herbicide in the Spring. According to the authors, there are three ways to eliminate cover crops: 1) herbicides, 2) rolling and crimping, and 3) tillage.

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