Flip Your Soil: Planting Soybeans Into a Cover Crop Like Rye

For farmers trying to Flip their Soil and improve soil health one simple thing they can do this fall is plant cereal rye as a cover crop and plant soybeans into that stand. 

Soil health experts say soybeans can be drilled or planted green into the rye in the spring.  Instead of terminating it farmers can let the rye continue to grow.  Mitch Hora, CEO and Agronomist, Continuum Ag, says,  "So you’re getting the real benefit out of that rye and to foster better health for the soybeans.  To keep the soybeans happy and to get some good growth in the spring to better manage your moisture to be able to keep those beans really happy.  And you can actually get some benefit out of it because a lot of farmers worry, especially in Minnesota like we are today that if we plant cereal rye in the fall its gonna be that big and what good does it get me?  But the key is be patient in the spring, plant into it especially your beans, plant green and then terminate it later."

Hora says termination isn’t done until the soybeans reach about 10 to 12 inches tall.  That’s when farmers spray their first pass of herbicide to kill the rye, then roll it over and the beans will grow back through.