By TIM ALEXANDER

Illinois Correspondent

EAST PEORIA, Ill. — The economics of conservation practices was under scrutiny at a recent ILSoyAdvisor Better Beans seminar in East Peoria, where the results of a University of Illinois study on cover crops were up for discussion.

At the heart of the study was confirmation that cover crops are an effective method for reducing nitrogen (N) in tile-drained soils, providing good reason to believe there are long-term soil and water quality benefits associated with continual cover crop use.

However, the report indicates that questions remain as to whether cover can be credited with increased yields and profits. And with non-land costs already on the rise in 2019, costs associated with cover must be watched closely, according to U of I agricultural economist Gary Schnitkey.

“We (collected data from) 51 fields of overwintering cover crops and nearly all were cereal rye. Almost all are no-till systems. We did not see a difference in yields, though we are obviously working with limited numbers,” Schnitkey said.

“You have got to keep the cover crop seed and planting costs within reason. Though we can’t say that cover crops increase yield and profitability, yields were not lower and profit was not lower.”

The U of I farmdoc team issued economic suggestions for cover based on their survey, which Schnitkey shared with the central Illinois farmers in attendance at the Better Beans series. Among the recommendations:

•Use cover crops on owned or shared fields (or share rented) to allay costs

•Use continual cover crops on the same field

•Come up with a method to chart your cover crops’ efficiency and costs

•Use cover crops in no-till scenarios for best results

•Keep seed costs low with low seeding rates and best prices

•Maximize additional herbicide applications and costs

“If you are on a cash rent basis, you should approach the landlord about cost-sharing cover crop seed and establishment costs, because they have skin in the game. Benefits occur through accumulated organic matter when you plant continuous cover crops year after year on the same land,” said Schnitkey.

“And, somehow, you will need to be able to evaluate whether cover crops are truly benefiting your soil. You will also need to look carefully at seeding rates and minimizing additional cover crop costs.”

While the U of I survey suggested the presence of long-term soil and erosion control benefits from cover crops, those benefits are difficult to quantify, he explained. “I could bring up a bunch of farmers who would tell you about the benefits they are getting from cover crops, and I have no reason to doubt them – but the data is limited at this point.”

The lack of solid data can be a hurdle when negotiating with landlords or production partners to split seed and other expenses, cautioned Kris Reynolds, a certified crop adviser (CCA) with American Farmland Trust.

“If they are not interested in increasing their management on a particular farm or a particular practice, they may have had a bad experience and decided they were done,” he said. “Give them all the information you can. Try to start off with something small after soybeans and before corn.”

Convincing central Illinois farmers and landowners to embrace cover crops can be challenging for seed retailers such as Brian Wieland, a CCA with Saddle Butte Ag, Inc. in Princeville. Wieland attended Better Beans to promote his company’s line of individual variety and combined cover crop blends.

“In our immediate area (interest) is pretty low, to be honest. A lot of guys here are farming real big, they are doing a lot of tillage, and they have some pretty good soils. I don’t think they’ve fully grasped all of the benefits, so it is a slow grind,” he said.

“Then there are the producers that are conscientious about their number of tillage passes and their soil biology, who want to raise good crops and maybe reduce some input costs over time.”

Enlisting a CCA to help educate landlords on the soil health benefits of cover crops can help them establish mutual conservation goals and plans, Wieland has found. He has successfully brought together farmers and landowners to formulate, establish, and maintain cover crop systems, but has also met with fierce resistance from reticent landlords and, on a few occasions, producers.

“I think some farmers almost feel that they are going to fail at it and cause the landowner an issue, so they avoid it altogether,” he said, adding that the No. 1 benefit he has seen from cover crops is the reduction of nitrate loss in tile-drained soils.

“In our area this takes on huge importance. We may not necessarily see a yield or profit bump, but the retention of N is a big reason for cover crops in no-till systems.”

Ivan Dozier, state conservationist for the Illinois Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), said his upbringing on a farm taught him that ecological sustainability efforts such as cover-cropping must also be economical to farmers. “I think we are headed in the right direction, but there certainly are financial obstacles,” he said during a roundtable.

“NRCS has all the programs and the funding you need to offset the risks. Anytime you adopt a practice that you are not familiar with, there is risk.

“Another economic consideration other than having the funds to help offset those risks is in understanding where the ultimate consumer fits into this. Our consumers are far more concerned now with how their food is produced than how much we produce,” he noted.

BRIAN WIELAND of Saddle Butte Ag (Left) and Ivan Dozier, Illinois state conservationist for the USDA-NRCS, at the ILSoyAdvisor Better Beans series in East Peoria.