Welter Farm

Before converting practices, Jason Welter’s rotation was corn and soybeans. Seven years ago, he began experimenting with strip till to save fuel and time. From there he added manure management strategies and cover crops. He is already seeing how these practices are reducing erosion, increasing organic matter, breaking up compaction, and increasing natural drainage.

Recent efforts and upcoming plans include:

• Strip till – Soybeans going to corn will be stripped without running a digger. Corn stalks will be stripped in the fall and soybean stubble will be stripped in the spring to apply fertilizer.

• Cover crops – The primary cover crop currently used is winter cereal rye. The cover crop is planted using a pull-cart broadcast spreader after the corn is harvested but before fall strips are made. Their new strip till machine has two dry boxes allowing Jason to apply fertilizer and the cover crop in the same pass.
• Manure application – Hog manure is applied with a low disturbance bar on the manure tank. They hope to raise the rate of manure application to eliminate the use of spring applied commercial fertilizer.

By 2022 and into 2023, Jason hopes to have all corn acres rotating to soybeans planted with cover crops.