Governor team, others promote conservation at Plainfield farm

The rye no-till cover crop was 3 to 4 feet tall in mid to late May when Rick Juchems drilled the beans into it. He remembers the height because a deer was peeking over the rye at him. Juchems’ tractor hit a several-inch tall birdhouse woven into the rye and he had to stop and collect it before continuing. Juchems held the unusual birdhouse out to the governor team, who inspected it with impressed expressions. It was tucked into a box to give to a friend, who wanted to carve a replica of it. Beauty aside, Juchems’ cover crop serves a purpose.
On average, the reduction of soil loss with a cover crop is 50 percent, said Rick and Jane’s daughter Liz Juchems, who works with Iowa Learning Farms and Water Rocks though Iowa State University Extension.
Juchems farms 500 acres, half corn, half soybeans, in rural Plainfield. He has been participating in a cover crop study on three acres of both corn and soybeans for eight years with Iowa Learning Farms through Extension. The plot is re-seeded annually. Yield is basically unchanged, he said: It has slightly increased with beans and stayed level with corn.
Read the full article in the August 11 edition of the papers.