Keep an eye on the sky for cover crops

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!

Well, maybe it’s not Superman, but the pilots who aerially seed cover crops in Ashland County are still super heroes in my book.

It’s no secret that Ohio’s weather patterns are becoming increasingly volatile. That means higher frequency, higher intensity rain events coupled with periods of drought-like conditions in between. So what’s a farmer to do?

Cover crops can be one solution. Having a growing crop over the winter holds soil in place, captures and puts sunlight to work, and serves as filter to keep nutrients and sediment on farm fields where they below. Plus, cover crops can increase soil’s water-holding capacity by improving soil structure and increasing organic matter.

But there’s still the challenge of smaller weather windows for harvest. Famers may understand the benefits cover crops can provide and want to plant them in their fields, but sometimes they just run out of time during harvest.

That’s why for the second year, Ashland Soil & Water Conservation District will once again be coordinating aerial cover crop seeding for Ashland County farmers. Ashland SWCD Technician and Jerome Fork Watershed Coordinator Erica While schedules the pilots, orders the seeds, and works with the pilots to identify fields and seed mixes.

Aerial cover crop seeding takes the time pressure off the fall seeding crunch, and it means seeds are already starting to establish by the time the cash crop comes off, shortening the window that the soil is left uncovered and vulnerable to erosion.

Ashland SWCD will offer several seed mixes for aerial cover crop seeding this fall; interested producers should contact White at 419-289-4828 for more details and pricing of the different mixes. Farmers can also supply their own seed for aerial application as well.

The application deadline for this year’s aerial seeding program is August 28, with seeding tentatively scheduled around Labor Day. Participants with approved Ashland County acres in the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District’s cover crop cost-share program can have their cost share rate deducted directly from their aerial seeding bill.