Rob Giesbrecht believes he’s come up with a solution for regional growers who have given up on raising cover crops due to a recent mandate that they curb groundwater irrigation.
Farmers typically don’t harvest cover crops, planting them instead to keep a living root in the soil for erosion control and allowing them to decompose in fields to replenish nutrients and build soil organic matter.
But Giesbrecht believes interest is waning in the once trendy soil-health practice throughout Idaho’s Eastern Snake Plain, where groundwater users must reduce their irrigation by 12 percent on average under the terms of a 2015 water call settlement with the Surface Water Coalition.
Giesbrecht anticipates strong demand for new cover crop blends he’s developed to maximize water-use efficiency.
“You’re talking 4 to 5 inches of water versus the other cover crop mixes that are taking anywhere from 8 to 10 inches of water,” Giesbrecht said.
Giesbrecht said five former customers, who had planted his seed over 1,000 acres, canceled 2016 orders to meet their reductions. He predicts more growers on the plain will quit using cover crops in future years, as they realize they’re not doing enough to make their required cutbacks.
Giesbrecht believes abandoning cover crops based on water concerns is short sighted. He argues benefits of cover crops aren’t fully realized until after about five consecutive years of use. On his own farm, he’s saved on herbicides for weed control, enjoyed a roughly 8 percent water savings due to improved soil organic matter and water infiltration and significantly cut back on nutrient applications.
Source: www.capitalpress.com