The Dickinson Research Extension Center is hosting two field days on cover crops. The Center will host the first event on August 18th at the Center in Dickinson and the second on August 19th in Streeter, North Dakota at the Central Grasslands Research Extension Center. Ryan Buetow, area cropping specialist at the Center in Dickinson, spoke about the value of cover crops and how they can help producers.
“Cover crops are great for our soil, great for your fields. They can work as a soil erosion preventer. They can also work as a soil builder, increasing your soil organic matter and improving your soil structure. And, depending if you have a legume in your cover crop mix, they can also work as nitrogen source. And, if you have a deep rooted plant, they can also work as a nitrogen scavenger, bringing up that nitrogen up from deep down in the soil. Along with that, there’s also grazing value to these cover crops along with they can work as a weed fighter to help suppress those weeds out in your field and even enhance the pollinators out there.
“We’re working towards having more small workshops so we can have a discussion and try to bring in speakers from around the state or even just have discussion along with industry leaders. For this cover crop workshop, we’ll be having Dr. Marisol Berti come out. She’s an associate professor in forages and cover crop production research. Producers are invited to join us on August 18th in Dickinson and August 19th in Streeter to learn about cover crops.”
