by Kristin Williams

What's that number you say? It's the number of research and demonstration plots and fields we have going on this growing season at various farms in the region.

Among those projects is true replicated research plots. We are in our second year of study of winter rye cover crop with and without tillage radish at different seeding rates planted after corn silage harvest, by either drilling or broadcasting, with and without manure application. The final results will compiled after next spring's growth. However, preliminary results suggest that even when tillage radish is planted in early to mid September there is some additional benefit to the winter rye crop in the following spring.

We also are in the second year of a demonstration project utilizing 10 different mixes of cover crops with various combinations of a cereal grain, brassica and legume, compared to straight winter rye. These have been broadcast early and late while corn and soybeans were still standing, and after corn silage harvest. Final results of this project will also be compiled after next spring's growth. However, preliminary results suggest that seed to soil contact is really important for successful establishment, and that drilled plots generally have outperformed broadcast seedings. In some cases broadcasting has been a failure, in others early broadcasting has produced results.

There were a handful of prevented plantings or open fields that we were able to take the opportunity to establish early summer cover crops on. In fact, this fall's soil health field day will include a visit to one site where we established a number of different cover crops for this purpose. We also assisted Joshua Faulkner, from UVM Extension & The Center for Sustainable Agriculture, on his project comparing the use of cover crops to sub-soiling as a way to alleviate compaction. We will keep you updated on those results!

Cover crops aren't the only thing we've been examining. We teamed up with Daniel Hudson, who works out of St. Johnsbury UVM Extension office, to establish Italian ryegrass trials in Chittenden and Addison county. We've had positive results with high quality forage, particularly earlier in the year. Italian ryegrass grows better under moist conditions, and it's growth slowed during the dry late summer we had. Issues with weed control upon establishment may need to be considered. There was variation among varieties and we will continue to pursue this concept. Another summer annual we've been demonstrating on farm is forage sorghum. We had variability in performance which was probably due to timing of planting, in combination with fertility and weed pressure.

We teamed up with Jeff Sanders, of the Northwest Crops & Soils Program at UVM Extension, to establish no-till corn trials in Addison county, using their no-till planter. Alternatively we've been helping farmers set up their own planters. We've been doing yield checks on no-till corn and comparable tilled corn fields. We know theoretically that no-till and reduced tillage systems can benefit soil health, but we want to make sure that the system works in our climate and our soils.