Top Crop Manager: Using cover crops to improve soil trafficability

Cold, wet and waterlogged soils are just a fact of life in many fields across Manitoba early in the growing season, and growers have no choice but to wait out the moisture.

The biggest challenge is that it can be weeks before soils are dry enough to be able to walk fields, let alone drive in with equipment. That means the already short growing season gets shorter, and precious time that could be spent growing a profitable crop is lost.

Afua Mante, an assistant professor in the Department of Soil Science at the University of Manitoba, is exploring how cover crops, like fall rye, can be used to improve soil trafficability – the ability of soils to carry vehicular traffic and withstand the weight of machinery. This way, growers can get into their fields faster, without getting bogged down to the axles or causing serious compaction.

To read the complete article go Top Crop Manager.