GLENLEA, Man. – Lust was in the eyes of organic farmers as they witnessed a sexy piece of machinery lay down a cover crop in a uniform blanket.
“I could do with having that,” said one farmer in a group of producers, researchers and university agriculture students who recently toured the University of Manitoba’s Glenlea organic research plots.
“Wonder what it costs?”
The blade roller, which was invented in the United States, is pulled behind a tractor and lays down a cover crop, breaking the stalk and killing the plant, but does not till.
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That’s important because exposed, tilled soil is prone to soil erosion problems, and because tilling operations use more fuel.
“It’s a low energy way of dealing with this green manure,” said researcher Martin Entz.
Eventually the fababean residue will be tilled into the soil, but for weeks or months it can be left on the surface, protecting it while returning valuable nutrients to the soil.
Entz said the underside of the crop breaks down and nutrients leech into the soil, at which point microbes will work on them and fertilize the soil.
In an organic system, a downed cover crop like this could be left on the surface until September, he said.
At the Carman, Man., research farm, he and other researchers will be trying another innovation: planting a cover crop of canola through the untilled fababean residue. That is designed to lock up the nitrogen while continuing to protect the soil.
These efforts are part of the work Entz and others are conducting to develop minimum till organic systems, a notion that may seem a contradiction in terms to some organic growers.
“We’re making it work,” said Entz.
“Or at least, we’re starting to make it work.”
