Well-chosen tillage part of organic family’s innovative crop system
Originally published September 22, 2023 on OrganicBiz
By Stew Slater
Brett Israel of Drayton-area 3-Gen Organics shared his family’s recent experiences on how reintroducing the moldboard plow can be a winner for both yield and soil health on heavier-textured land.
3-Gen Organics hosted a farm tour Aug. 30 to show how prudent tillage with cover crops is working on their farm. It was co-hosted by the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO) and the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association.
The event was on the approved funding list for anyone seeking to expand their knowledge of nitrogen management or cover cropping through the On-Farm Climate Action Fund. As a result, it attracted a fair number of conventional croppers interested in the Israel family’s innovative, scaled-for-larger-farms approaches.
Following a free early supper in the farm’s new on-farm store sponsored by the Weston Family Foundation – co-supporter of EFAO’s Small Grains Project, in which 3-Gen is a key participant – attendees were led on a combined walking/carpooling tour of the family’s roughly 1,200 acres of organic cropland and the exterior of the 180-sow farrow-to-finish barn.
First on the tour were two versions of 2023 soybeans grown after a rye cover crop. In the early 2020s, the Israels were part of an OMAFRA-led trial into roller-crimping of a rye cover crop prior to the establishment of an organic soybean crop, with the rye mulch meant to provide weed control.
Yield results on the farm just up the hill from the Conestoga Dam were not convincing compared with their 30-inch organic soybeans that received regular weed-control scuffling, so they decided not to continue with roller-crimping.
Since 2021 they have found success in cutting the rye cover crop in spring for use as dry sow fodder, running through the field with a high-speed disc, and planting the soybeans. They first disced and planted immediately after cutting but determined a two-week wait for some rye regrowth provides better weed control.
Soybeans are planted in 7.5-inch rows instead of the commonly wide row spacing necessary in organic production, eliminating the possibility of scuffling. Their hope is that the rapid establishment of the soybean crop quickly closes a canopy over the weeds before they can get enough sunlight to compete.
It’s actually kind of comical seeing these tiny little rye plants trying to set head and make seed. – Brett Israel
But Israel suspects a key to allowing for a profitable yield with this approach is the allelopathic effects of the rye. He said he knows of no studies tracking this, but believes the plant’s allelopathic characteristics “go into overdrive” when the crop is cut and it tries to regrow and reproduce in the springtime warmth and sun.
“It’s actually kind of comical seeing these tiny little rye plants trying to set head and make seed,” he noted.
With a seeding rate well above the recommended number for conventional soybeans, Israel believes the soybeans are too numerous to be significantly affected by the presence of the rye, which does suppress a good proportion of weeds long enough for the narrow-row soybeans to establish a good canopy.
The Israels had two versions of this approach on display from the 2023 growing season. As was the case with many southern Ontario soybean plots this year, one field had to be replanted later into June because the earlier planting couldn’t get enough moisture to germinate.
That field received an extra round of cultivation prior to the second planting, resulting in what appeared to be better weed control.
The other field was planted slightly earlier in May and found enough moisture to germinate the first time. That field appeared as even and well-established in late August as the replanted field, but appeared to have more weeds.
Soybeans are also included in the 3-Gen crop rotation as a double-crop option following winter barley.
Tour attendees expressed surprise that the clipped cover crop is fed to pigs but Israel noted pigs were fed a lot differently 30 years ago than they are today. He said his grandfather regularly fed forage to his pigs on this now fifth-generation family farm that began converting to organic production in 2015.
Israel said plant biodiversity has, over that decade, become a key element for both their soil regeneration and crop protection strategies. A good example is the practice of seeding a diverse cover crop mixture into standing grain corn to provide ground cover after harvest.
He said they’ve seen crop yields steadily increase as they’ve expanded the level of diversity – both in the form of plant diversity but also in the form of a return to hog production as a source of both solid and liquid manure – under organic production, and their heavier clay soils have become increasingly workable.
That’s despite the reintroduction of the moldboard plow. Brett’s father, Carl, told tour attendees they’d stopped plowing about 15 years ago but gradually came to see its value as they moved into organic practices.
Reintroducing alfalfa to the rotation as a source of on-farm nitrogen for a following corn crop provided evidence that they needed to bring back the moldboard.
“Alfalfa is hard to kill,” said Brett as he showed tour attendees a healthy third-cut alfalfa field that is also used as pig feed. It will be terminated in the fall by plowing and corn will be planted in the spring.
The Israels also trialed a ripping tool called a Farmet last fall but it won’t replace the moldboard. The tour included a corn field in which there was a marked difference in performance between the land worked with the moldboard plow compared to the Farmet.
Overall, only a small percentage of the 3-Gen acreage sees the moldboard plow in any given year. But tillage by wide-sweep cultivator and high-speed disc is common across the crop rotation, including a “summer tillage” program after some cereal crops.
These fields receive multiple cultivator passes over several weeks to enhance weed control before a cover crop is planted.
Challenged by a conventional grower about the fossil fuel use needed for increased tillage and weed control, Brett said he would put 3-Gen’s carbon balance numbers up against any conventional farm, due to the high fossil fuel use necessary for production of synthetic crop protection and fertilizer products.
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