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Missouri farmer pleased with cover crop performance

Missouri farmer Nathan Alpers is pleased with harvest results of soybeans planted in tall rye.  The soybeans in the cover crop were cut this past week.  Alpers tells Brownfield the extra work was worth it.

“The residue of the rye shaded the ground, held moisture, and the beans, in our opinion, performed a little better,” Alpers told Brownfield Ag News, standing in the field that had just been harvested near Prairie Home, Missouri.  “This field, it averaged 67 bushels an acre,” according to the yield monitor on his combine.

What adds to Alpers’ bottom line is that the soil planted to the rye cover crop is healthier.

“There’s absolutely no erosion out there, we’re improving organic matter, we’re just bringing nutrients up,” said Alpers, “and I might add, this field virtually had no fertilizer on it.”

Alpers says corn yields at his place were his second best ever, about twenty to twenty-five bushels below his 2014 crop.

Other than minor rain delays and a couple of maintenance issues, the Alpers have been pleased with how smoothly the harvest has been.

“Kind of our goal was to always have the combines in the shed on Halloween,” he said.  “If we don’t get big weather events I think we’ll beat that.”

In addition to urging all farmers to stay safe during the harvest, Alpers expressed what he and his family think about the growing season just ending.

“Everything’s been great,” he concluded, “we’re just truly blessed.”

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