On March 19, 2024 a full-day workshop was held in Carman, MB to document producer knowledge and experience of cover cropping and zone management. Workshop findings are being used to inform small plot, field-scale, and on-farm research. Six Manitoba and Saskatchewan field crop and livestock producers and one researcher from a Saskatchewan applied research farm participated. Three University of Manitoba researchers facilitated the discussion.
Producers outlined their experiences using cover crops. Several producers mentioned that the promise of rapid impacts of cover crops is what first drew them into adopting cover crops. But in practice, they have seen unclear or mixed results with due to the relatively dry and cold growing conditions they work under. Despite unclear paths forward, several participants remain motivated to develop practical, inexpensive, and low-risk cover cropping practices because of some benefits they have observed such as reduced erosion, improved weed population control, improved water infiltration, improved headland management, saline/water-logged area management, inexpensive forage production, and improved input efficiency by taking unproductive areas out of production.
One field crop and livestock producer mentioned that he uses cover crops to produce his winter feed supply at reasonable costs. He stated that integration of forage/cover crops into his grain crop rotation is only made possible through his farm's livestock operation. Field crop-only farmers discussed the challenges of getting cover crops established on their own or intercropped with grain crops in drier years.
Most participants expressed interest in using zone management to identify and manage field areas poorly suited to field crop production. These areas consistently provide poor financial returns due to saline soil conditions, waterlogging (lower lying areas), erosion (mid and upper slope areas and ridges), and compaction (headlands). Participants provided various strategies for managing non-productive zones such as variable rate fertility application, zone-based cover crop seeding, or conversion to perennials. At the same time, if non-productive areas are not actively managed, they often provide ideal conditions for local weed populations (esp. kochia) to increase significantly.
Producers have some interest in better understanding how an intercropped cover crop or nurse crop might be used to control flea beetle infestations in canola.
The Saskatchewan researcher and other participants discussed various ways to address saline and waterlogged areas through tile and cut and fill drainage. While these methods can be effective, they are costly and may not always adhere to local and provincial laws. Therefore, participants are interested in developing ways to manage these areas using zone management techniques which integrate annual cover crops and perennials that does not involve installing drainage infrastructure or significant landscape modifications.
One field crop and livestock producer mentioned that the only reliable cover crop establishment his farm has had is seeding cover crops and field crops at the same time in a single pass. His experience has shown that conditions are typically too dry to establish a cover crop seeding outside the field crop seeding period in spring. The Saskatchewan researcher stated that one additional benefit to using this practice is reduced on-farm emissions thanks to single pass seeding.
