The 46-year-old and his family farm 2,300 acres, about half of it owned by others, primarily corn and beans with some wheat and hay. He’s increased use of cover crops like red clover and peas to invigorate and restore the soil — and hold it in place when uncontrollable flooding hits as it did this spring.
Rasawehr said cover crops should be planted for four to five years to see benefits that include richer, less compact soil, decreased erosion and water retention in the soil. He’s convinced the methods pay off in real dollars for practitioners, who find that they need to apply less fertilizer and mechanical work to make crops flourish.
He’s been assisted by Mercer County OSU Extension Educator Jim Hoorman and federal water quality grants that have helped Rasawehr and other farmers purchase the cover crops. Technical support is key also, Rasawehr said, since technique goes a long way. “Once you get people to do it right, it makes money,” he said. “I’m confident that this is the way of the future.”
But there’s a long way to go before the practices become common. By Rasawehr’s count, more than 16 farmers in his county are using the methods, he said.
Rasawehr is frustrated because he says federal regulations haven’t caught up with best practices. The problem is related to federal guidelines for crop insurance. Farmers are not eligible for crop insurance coverage for their regular cash crop unless the cover crop has been removed by a set date. Rasawehr would like the rules purged of fixed deadlines and structured around some form of best use.
Because heavy rainfall this year delayed cash crop planting, many farmers have missed the removal deadline — originally set for May 15. Although the U.S. Risk Management Agency pushed the deadline into June dates, many farmers could still be penalized.
U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio and Dick Lugar, R-Indiana, Tuesday urged the Obama Administration to give farmers greater flexibility to remove cover crops so Ohio farmers may be eligible for insurance.
“Cover crops are not preventing farmers from planting — wet weather is,” Brown said. “Cover crops are providing benefits for farmers by reducing soil compaction, storing nutrients, and soaking up excess water. Refusing to provide crop insurance to these farmers penalizes them for following good conservation practices.”
In a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency, Brown and Lugar called for flexibility so that farmers who have implemented conservation practices — as directed by the USDA — are not penalized by weather.
Brown said that research shows that cover crops can increase the yield of cash crops by improving soil quality and nutrients. Cover crops also reduce nutrient and pesticide runoff by 50 percent or more, decrease soil erosion by 90 percent, and increase the rate of water infiltration into soils to circumvent flooding.
Brown cited the cost-saving conservation efforts benefit waters from Grand Lake St. Marys to the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico by reducing runoff that feeds harmful cyanobacteria that have shut down Grand Lake and created huge economically harmful dead zones in Lake Erie and the Gulf.
Brian Frieden, regional director of the USDA’s Risk Management Agency covering Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois, said Friday the agency extended deadlines and is working on revisions to help farmers.
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