There’s a reason you’re hearing a lot about cover crops. They have many benefits for sustainable crop production — conserving moisture, reducing soil erosion, managing weeds and breaking disease cycles.
“The rise in cover crops is part of a broader movement that is focused on soil health,” says Blake Bergkamp, research agronomist with Great Plains Ag. “Growers are looking at efficient ways to maintain a living root system in the soil as much as possible to manage carbon, maintain or increase organic matter and scavenge residual nutrients.”
The key to a well-established cover crop is good seed-to-soil contact. Great Plains Ag, a division of Kubota Canada, has a suite of equipment that will meet the needs of large or small growers, no matter their tillage practices.
Bergkamp says their BD 7600 box drill works especially well for cash crops in a no-till system as it can handle a wide range of seed types, and can accurately meter the seed for an even distribution. With very narrow row spacing capabilities, it is able to achieve a high level of ground cover to fill as much space as possible.
Great Plains Ag’s grain drills provide minimal soil disturbance, which is beneficial to growers with little crop residue or to corn growers who choose to interseed a cover crop. For growers with a smaller area to cover, the 1206NT12-foot end wheel no-till drill option uses a coulter for better seed-to-soil contact in adverse conditions.
The Turbo Max vertical tillage / hybrid tool mounted with the Turbo-Seeder blows seeds on a disk and lightly incorporates it into the soil. This minimal tillage option vertically cuts the residue and fractures the soil for a smooth seedbed without creating compaction layers.
This is a much better option than a broadcast seed application alone which is reliant on rainfall or irrigation for a quality stand.”
Blake Bergkamp, Great Plains Ag
“This is a much better option than a broadcast seed application alone which is completely reliant on rainfall,” says Bergkamp. “Using this tool, growers can ensure proper seed application and can often cut back on their seeding rate and still get proper emergence.”
The Turbo Max is often chosen by growers with a log of fall residue and looking to involve some fall tillage in their operation. This option helps with the breakdown process ahead of the spring season, while also seeding a cover crop in a single pass.
“Cover crops should be considered another part of a grower’s annual crop rotation,” says Bergkamp. “Growers need to plan ahead of their cash crop and know the impact it could have on whatever they plan to grow in-season to maximize its value, particularly when they are using their cover crop for livestock grazing.”
Currently, Kubota offers its innovations and expertise through its wide network of dealers. With 137 dealers across Canada, Kubota’s seeding equipment can be found from Whitehorse, Yukon, to St. John’s, Newfoundland, and as far north as Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, to as far south as Essex, Ontario. Interested in learning more or booking a demo? Visit Kubota.ca or contact a Kubota dealership near you to experience the quality, flexibility and value of Kubota tools.
