Cover crops are everywhere on Prince Edward Island. In recent years, growers looking to help manage the Island’s light-textured soils have rapidly ramped up cover crop planting to improve soil health and fight erosion.
Syngenta Canada agronomist Eric Richter says he noticed a big change since he moved to PEI five years ago. In this report, filmed on the Island earlier this summer, he tells RealAgriculture’s Bernard Tobin how the Prince Edward Island Potato Board and its members have worked to integrate cover crops into rotations and how the strategy is paying dividends with better soil health and higher potato yields.
Richter notes how some growers are actually adopting a new three-year rotation which includes one year of potatoes, followed by a full season-long cover crop, typically radish, sorghum-sudan grass or a mix. Growers may choose to keep that cover for a second year if it includes some perennials, or seed another annual cover crop, before returning to potatoes the following year.
Richter adds that research trials run by Potato Board agronomist Ryan Barrett have already demonstrated a 10 per cent bump for potato yields in the rotation.
Over the years, PEI has seen significant reduction in livestock, which has also impacted soil health. “When we lost the livestock, and we lost a lot of that ground in forages and perennial forages, our soil health suffered very quickly,” says Richter, “Organic matters were dropping below two per cent and the ground was becoming more erodible, both with wind and water. So the interest in cover crops has truly rocketed.”
In the interview, Richter notes that this evolving crop and soil management strategy also opens up opportunities for cash crops like winter wheat to find a fit in the rotation. Watch the video below.
See Related: Wheat School: Making winter wheat profitable in the Maritimes
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