Cereal Rye and Soybean Success

Dr. Erin Silva researches organic no-till systems and helps farmers implement them

Dr. Erin Silva is a professor in the department of plant pathology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She directs the Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension Program (OGRAIN), which supports organic row-crop and small-grain operations throughout the Upper Midwest.

Interest in organic no-till row cropping is growing. Within the scope of the Rogers curve — the theory that new technologies or methods are taken up by a very small number of innovators, followed by a slightly larger number of early adopters, followed by a large number of early- and late-majority adopters (and never by some number of “laggards”) — all of the current organic no-tillers can probably be described as innovators. As they demonstrate success, though, we will likely begin to see a larger number of early adopters jump in.

Dr. Silva’s research into cereal rye / soybean and other organic no-till cropping systems is supporting these innovators and (soon, hopefully) early adopters. In this interview, she discusses some of the specifics of the rye/soybean system — how to establish the cereal rye cover, how to terminate it, how to plant the cash crop, and more.

Even if you aren’t a row cropper, though — or aren’t in the Midwest — there are principles in this interview that will apply to the growth of your crops.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

ACRES U.S.A. Why should a no-till farmer today be interested in transitioning at least part of their acreage to organic no-till? 

DR. ERIN SILVA. Over the past few years, with the interest in roller-crimping and cover-crop-based no-till, I’ve had the opportunity to work with more and more conventional farmers. The conventional farmers that I’ve had the opportunity to interact with are interested in cover-crop-based no-till — or what we also commonly refer to as “organic no-till” — for a couple different reasons. 

From what I’ve been hearing, many farmers entered no-till more from the perspective of focusing on reducing soil disturbance. The primary motivations and the primary drive for practices in their system were focused more on not turning over the soil; they were minimizing soil disturbance.

But as more and more farmers turned to cover crops and started to integrate more soil-health practices, beyond simply no-till, what they found is that the integration of cover crops really profoundly benefitted their no-till systems. Some of the farmers that I’ve worked with said if they had to do it all over again, they would’ve introduced cover crops from the start — that they wouldn’t have started no-till without introducing the cover crops, in order to get that biological/ecological component. 

Organic no-till, or cover-crop-based no-till, is a way to approach reducing or eliminating soil disturbance while integrating the cover crop very strategically and deliberately into this system, and all the benefits that cover crops provide — soil armor, feeding soil biology through their living roots, the secretion of sugars, fostering that robust soil community that helps with soil structure, the turnover of nutrients and the nutrient cycling, and other aspects of the soil environment that really benefit the no-till production practices. 

ACRES U.S.A. Can you describe the cereal rye / soybean system you’ve been working on? 

SILVA. I’ve been researching cover-crop-based no-till — in this case, specifically, organic no-till, or at least organic reduced no-till — for over a decade now — going on 15 years. In southern Wisconsin, where most of my research is conducted, we’ve been quite successful with the roller-crimp system using cereal rye as the cover crop and planting soybean as the cash crop. We’re working on other applications of the roller-crimper, and some areas of the country are more successful than others. There seem to be broader environmental regions where farmers can be successful with a cereal rye and soybean pairing. 

And in that system, in organic, we haven’t been able to bring the system to a complete no-till system. What we’re really doing is looking at reducing tillage or eliminating tillage in certain crop phases. With this application, we’re able to minimize or eliminate soil disturbance while integrating soybean in the rotation for an extended period of time — going on 18 months. This system requires farmers to proactively strategize their rotation. One of the key aspects for success that we’ve found in our research — as well as other partners across the country — is that the early planting of cereal rye is absolutely essential. 

One of the things that really is a change in mindset for farmers is how we’re using cereal rye in a very deliberate way. I’ve recently heard of some farmers and some ag professionals working in the organic/regenerative space even wanting to get rid of the word “cover crop” — that “cover crop” is a dismissive term for the deliberate and strategic value of these crops. 

I think when cover crops were first introduced as a value to the system — similar to when no-till was thought about in a much more linear way — the value of cover crops was primarily focused on the soil armor component. But as we understand more about cover crops — or what we think of as cover crops — we also see that they feed the soil, they act as an herbicide, they act as a fertilizer, and they have much more of a multifunctional approach. 

ACRES U.S.A. Why cereal rye instead of annual rye? 

SILVA. With cereal rye, we’re looking at a crop that is going to overwinter — something that is not perennial, but that we’re able to plant that in the fall, will protect the soil, and will get that early growth. 

The overwintering of it and the fall planting is really essential for that early growth and reproductive maturity that’s going to allow us to do mechanical termination. Whereas, with an annual ryegrass, we wouldn’t have that cover through the winter and the synchronizing. Annual ryegrass also overwinters in some areas. I’m not really sure about the reproductive cycle of annual ryegrass. We can obviously terminate some annual crops with the roller-crimper, but the cereal rye really works well in terms of its ability to stay living through the winter and to reach its reproductive stage at a phase where it can be mechanically terminated, and we still can get that cash crop in like we should. It has to do with, again, the multifunctional aspects of feeding the soil and maintenance of growth through the winter, and then the synchronicity of the timing of termination and the cash crop. 

ACRES U.S.A. If a farmer planted cereal rye and then, for whatever reason, missed the planting window for soybeans in the spring, can he continue to grow that cereal rye crop and harvest it as a grain? 

SILVA. Yes, most definitely. That really is a key aspect of the management of this system: that adaptive management perspective. These are ecological systems, so we have to take that in mind — that we’re really working with nature. There may be different challenges and opportunities every year. We can’t get into that really rigid mindset that we’re going to do one specific thing, come heck or high water — that we’re going to plant at this time and we’re going to terminate at this time. 

We want to have a plan in place, but we also want to have plans B and C and D, depending on the given year. That’s one of the things I tell farmers: depending on what your fall conditions are, what your winter conditions may be — even the suitability of a given field — you want to go out there fairly early in the spring, in April sometime, and take a look at that rye cover crop. At that point, you’re not necessarily going to see a lot of growth with respect to height, but you should be able to see a crop out there where that green is covering the whole field. You shouldn’t see a lot of bare ground. And if you see a carpet of green, that means there was adequate tillering — there was adequate stand establishment — and that’s likely going to give you the biomass and the weed suppression you need. 

If you’re seeing patches of bare ground, you need to rethink how you might manage that crop. Depending on the weed pressure, bringing that crop to grain and harvesting it as a cover crop seed for your own use — obviously, there’s issues with selling seed, depending on what the variety is — or harvesting that for feed or chopping it for feed certainly are options and should be considered. The last thing you want to do is get in such a rigid mindset that you don’t observe what you’re seeing in the field, work with Mother Nature, adapt to the ecology, and then do it anyway and have a weedy field. We certainly want to strive for no-till systems. If we’re looking at reducing tillage, I think harvesting the rye for a grain or a forage is probably the most likely option. 

But we could also till it under as a green manure to feed the soil and to recycle nutrients back in, to take advantage of some of the allelopathic properties of rye; we still could see some benefit, even though we’ve not necessarily gone all the way through to roller-crimping that crop. 

ACRES U.S.A. In the Upper Midwest, you’re going to plant the beans into the standing rye before you terminate — several weeks before you terminate, correct? 

SILVA. There are a couple different options on how we do it. This goes back to some of the key principles. We need to design a rotation crop sequence where we’re getting that rye in fairly early. It’s really a late-summer planting versus a fall planting. We like to see that cover, that rye crop, planted by mid-September. 

ACRES U.S.A. Do you till before you put that rye cover crop in? 

SILVA. We do typically till before planting rye, for a couple of reasons. We till because we need a solid stand of cereal rye. If we’re planting no-till into corn stubble or stubble of another crop — I have not tried this (not to say it wouldn’t work), but if I were to try that — I would want to be sure that the equipment and the field was in a condition such that I was going to get a very uniform stand of rye — one that, within the rows of corn stubble, wouldn’t compromise the ability of the rye to establish. 

And timing wise, if you’re coming in after corn — typically we’re coming in after silage, because that we typically get that off in early September — if you’re trying to get it in after grain in October, that can be more difficult. 

One option is to try to plant the shorter-season variety of corn and then, if you could get that off by the third week of September, you potentially could turn back around and plant the rye. But again, if you’re no-tilling into that, I’d be a little bit cautious about the amount of residue on the field and how that might affect rye stand establishment. 

In organic, weed management is highly dependent on having a thick, uniform stand of rye. If there are places where the rye hasn’t germinated or established, your weeds are going to come through there, no doubt, and you’re going to have minimal options to be able to come through and clean that up. 

Typically, in organic, we are working the field — at least doing some integration of the residue and making a uniform seed bed. Getting the rye in early allows for more tillering.

Then the rye really starts to take off in May. We’ve terminated it a couple of different ways in the Upper Midwest. We have waited until rye reaches anthesis, which, for mechanical termination, is absolutely critical — when we see the anthers hanging off the rye heads and you can rub your hand across it and see that yellow pollen. For us, that typically occurs between Memorial Day and June 1. 

There are different types of roller-crimpers available now. One is a front-mounted roller-crimper, like the Rodale Institute has designed, that pulls the planter behind. It’s really key to have your planter set up well so that you can get through that rolled residue. We also have planters that are integrated into the roller-crimper system with hydraulic down-pressure. 

The other option that can be appealing to farmers — this is still occurring at anthesis — is planting into the rye before we crimp. That can help ensure good soil-to-seed contact, because we’re not having to worry about planting through that thick, inch-plus rye mulch. 

Depending on soil type and soil moisture, that may be a choice you want to make. This is adaptive management — making the decision depending on your field that given year — your conditions. You crimp that same day right over it. Again, the goal there is not necessarily changing the timing of planting and decoupling it from anthesis; it’s simply a mechanism to ensure better seed-to-soil contact — depending on your plant or soil type, soil conditions, soil moisture. 

ACRES U.S.A. In that case, then, you have to go through the field twice? 

SILVA. You have to go through the field twice. There’s certainly trade-offs there. 

ACRES U.S.A. Could you put the crimper behind the planter? 

SILVA. That’s a good question. I have not seen that, but that would be an interesting setup — to have the planter first and the crimper pulled behind it. I haven’t seen that. I wouldn’t doubt that farmers have tried it, but that would be a potential solution. 

ACRES U.S.A. Are all the new roller-crimpers using that chevron pattern, like the original Rodale one? 

SILVA. No. I’ve seen other models that aren’t using chevron blades. I think Rite Way may have one that has more staggered blades in parallel, so that might help with the bouncing issues, but it’s not that chevron pattern. So not all are chevron, but many farmers have that equipment — they do find the benefit of having it roll more evenly through the field. And, certainly, on more hilly terrain, I think they’re easier to ensure that the roller-crimper is not impacting the tractor path. 

ACRES U.S.A. So those are two options for planting: crimping and planting at the same time versus planting and crimping later the same day. Is there a third option of rolling a couple weeks later? 

SILVA. Yes, that’s the third option — planting a couple weeks before the rye reaches anthesis. For us, that’s around the middle of May, when the rye is just starting to head out — around the boot stage. We plant into the standing rye, but the difference is that we don’t crimp it. We let that rye continue to mature — let it reach anthesis — and then we crimp it. And we want to crimp over rolled beans, when they’re at about the unifoliate stage — when they have their first set of leaves. At that point, the beans can withstand the crimper. 

We do see some stand loss; I don’t want to dismiss the fact that you may see some stand loss. You may want to increase your seeding rate a bit to account for that. But, overall, the soybeans do recover. One thing that I’ve found, working with farmers trying this, is that you don’t want to push that planting too early. Again, this is adaptive management: looking at how to make that decision, depending on conditions. We don’t see as much benefit when the soil temps are cool. If farmers try to plant a little bit earlier than boot stage, thinking more growth is better, the beans become quite leggy and etiolated. They’re down below the canopy and they’re trying to grow up to the sun. You may still have beans that are only at the unifoliate or first trifoliate stage, but they’re very long, and that can cause some increased risk of damage to the beans. So we don’t want to push the system too hard. 

The other aspect is that we want to be planting the beans into a good soil condition when we’re doing this. Just like with organic in general, we’re not using seed treatment. Ideally, we want to get into a more disease-suppressive environment with soil biology. Without chemical seed treatments, we still have to be cognizant of the impacts of the environment that we’re planting that seed into. So, if we’re planting an unprotected seed into a cold, wet environment, the seed’s just going to be sitting there. That’s even potentially more the case with this method, where we don’t have that sunlight reaching the soil surface. We’re not doing that seed any good by placing it into an environment where it’s going to be struggling. 

We also have to read the environment in mid-May. One adaptive-management aspect is that if you’re thinking about planting in the boot stage, and you look at the weather forecast and it’s going to be a week of cold, wet conditions, you’re likely not going to see a lot of benefit to planting early. You have the seed on hand; you might as well just wait until anthesis, when that soil environment is going to be more supportive of seed germination and seed growth. 

Contrarily, if in mid-May you have a beautiful week of great, sunny weather and the soil temperature is going to warm up, pull the trigger and plant then. You always have to work with the environment — work with the ecology — and make decisions based on what’s best for the biology of the system. 

ACRES U.S.A. You’ve been using the phrase “adaptive management” a lot. How would you compare the level of management that’s required for this method of growing, as opposed to conventional growing — or as opposed to pre-World War II farming, when all farming was essentially organic? Is it more difficult? Organic no-till seems very complex.

SILVA. It is more complex. Most organic growers I talk to say that organic is hard. Organic takes a lot of knowledge. It takes a lot of willingness to be able to change plans. It takes multiple tools — and some tools you may use one year and some tools you may not use that given year. Organic is a very knowledge-intensive system. That’s not to say that it’s not a very rewarding system.

Many of the most successful organic farmers embrace that challenge, and that is really motivating. And, honestly, they say it’s quite fun, because if you have the knowledge and you have the resources, it’s doable. But it definitely takes a different mindset than just calling up your co-op and having them spray the field like they typically would. There’s a lot more individual decision making — both from a personal perspective as well as a field-to-field, year-to-year perspective. 

ACRES U.S.A. Going back to this particular system — rye/soybeans — can you talk about yield? Especially if you can couch that in terms of profitability, because what really matters, of course, is profitability. 

SILVA. We’ve done some partial budget analyses in these systems to understand the trade-offs and the impacts. Where the major trade-off comes about is the cost of the cover crop seed versus the cost of the fuel, and the depreciation on equipment and labor. Some of that is easier for farmers to wrap their heads around, because it’s more evident in their bank account or on their balance sheet. Some farmers don’t necessarily account for their own labor — or it’s maybe a little bit less clear when it comes to wear and tear on equipment. 

But if we look at cost of fuel versus cost of seed, in organic that relates to the cultivation passes — and, again, you’re not only looking on wear and tear or depreciation on the tractor, but depreciation on the cultivation equipment — organic no-till can perform comparably, if not better. The big wildcard there is if we can get the yield that we get in typical organic soybean production, which we certainly can. As our equipment has been optimized and as we’ve learned how to manage the system better, in most years we have equivalent yields to our soybeans, if not better. The system can be quite competitive. 

We haven’t done partial budget analyses in conventional systems. That is a whole other thing. When you look at trade-offs with herbicide costs (either reduced rate or eliminating herbicides) that, I think, is obviously going to then change the economics, and I think it’s definitely worth penciling that out and seeing how that affects the balance sheet. But even in organic, when we’re trading off seed costs versus cultivation passes, it can come out positive. 

ACRES U.S.A. And cover crop seed versus synthetic fertilizers, which are very expensive now, right? 

SILVA. Yes. That’s something, too, that is a little bit harder on an annual basis to measure. But having that cereal rye in the ground in the fall is helping hold onto and sequester nitrogen. That nitrogen may not be available during the soybean year, but we’re still keeping it in the system longer term. In any of these systems, we’re really looking at the long game. We’re looking at how we’re decreasing inputs over a longer period of time. As the system matures, we get the biology in a more stable place. We get nutrient cycling going on as the cover crops are holding onto and releasing nutrients. Particularly if you can put legumes in there, they’re contributing to nitrogen. 

We really have to look at gains over three-, five- and ten-year periods — which can be a bit scary for farmers. Sometimes when we’re changing to these systems — whether it’s organic or regenerative or cover-crop-based no-till — the first year or two you may not be able to see the magnitude of benefits that you might hope to see; some patience is required as that system reaches a new equilibrium and those new benefits are realized, as the system matures. 

ACRES U.S.A. Can you talk about nutrient management? Are you encouraging farmers to have plant tissue or plant sap analyzed and incorporating trace minerals or foliar feeding of any sort? 

SILVA. We haven’t at this point. That’s a really great question. I think some of that’s reflective of the soils where we’ve done the research. The majority of it is organic land. There’s a question that arises quite frequently in other environments, though — not only for the soybeans, but for rye: is additional fertility valuable with respect to fostering and ensuring a good rye stand to get the biomass we need? 

Ideally, we’re putting those nutrients on and they’re not being lost. They’re being held by the rye, and then the crop following soybeans will — through nutrient release, through decomposition of that cover crop residue — be able to take advantage of those nutrients. 

I think it’s definitely worth considering. We’ve tried adding some additional fertility to the rye to see if it benefits the soybeans, and we have not seen a benefit — which, I think, in part, is due to the fact that soybeans can be quite effective at supplying their own nitrogen. So that hasn’t been a need — which is good because the system has not required additional fertility inputs. But, overall, I think the system is going to thrive if it’s on a field where farmers have good fertility management and where there’s a more holistic fertility management strategy — where they’re looking beyond NPK and trying to foster a healthy soil environment. 

ACRES U.S.A. Why is organic no-till so much more difficult for corn than for soybeans? 

SILVA. From what we’ve observed, and from other farmers, this is at least partly because of additional fertility-management challenges that corn imparts — not being a legume crop and having different needs for nitrogen. Again, when we look at nitrogen in the system, the nitrogen is likely there, but it’s not necessarily available when corn needs it for growth. That’s an area that we’re actively researching — how to apply that nitrogen, in what form, in what timing, to ensure that nitrogen is available. 

Some of that is, in part, with cover crop selection and cover crop mixtures. A lot of that is how that affects nitrogen availability. In our systems, we’ve been mixing hairy vetch with some rye to ensure that we get good weed suppression. I know other areas of the country have had more luck with straight hairy vetch stands and planting corn.

ACRES U.S.A. Are you able to roll the vetch and the rye at the same time? 

SILVA. We are increasingly more. That hearkens back to our discussion about new technology. One of the things that has benefitted that system, and the asynchronicity between the rye and the hairy vetch, is interrow crimpers. We’re able to not limit ourselves to one crimping operation. We can use interrow crimpers to go between the corn rows, after the corn is established, and hit that hairy vetch a couple times to ensure that we get better termination. 

Hairy vetch is hard to terminate. It’s a decision for farmers, looking at their rotation and their risk intolerance, as to whether or not escaped hairy vetch is going to be a significant issue for their system. It’s often not an insignificant issue, so that’s something to definitely consider when doing corn. 

There are other legume options that we’ve tried and that others have tried. I think Austrian winter pea can be another option. It’s harder for us here in Wisconsin because we have more difficulty overwintering it, although I have been talking to some cover crop breeders and there does look like there’s some promising genetics out there that may overcome that. But in areas that are a bit warmer than us, I think that that can be a very good option. 

We’ve been trying to use red clover more as a living mulch and focusing on suppression versus termination, and those systems did quite well for us this year. Even in a drought year, we did not necessarily see the drier conditions with red clover.

And in Indiana, farmers like Rick Clark are using other legumes, such as balansa clover, that can be crimped. That’s not something that is workable up in Wisconsin, but Rick, being the innovator that he is, was able to find another legume to work with his organic no-till corn. There’s other options beyond hairy vetch, which may be more suitable, given the risk of hairy vetch and the hard seed and its propensity to perpetuate and not die. 

ACRES U.S.A. What typically comes after the beans in the fall? 

SILVA. After the beans, we harvest and leave the residue. Sometimes we do a light discing. Sometimes we leave that until the spring to incorporate. I’ve had farmers suggest that spraying on a biological product to help break down that residue might be valuable. We have not tried that yet — to try to facilitate breakdown and to make that incorporation easier. Maybe that would even create a better soil environment for no-tilling directly into that in the spring. Depending on fertility management, I think anything in the spring could potentially work. 

ACRES U.S.A. There wouldn’t be time to put a winter wheat on? 

SILVA. No, typically not. Even with using an earlier-maturing soybean group, I’m not sure if that would necessarily push harvest windows up anymore. Because we’re doing a little bit later planting and the soybean development is delayed early on a bit, we’re usually not harvesting until late October, so getting in with a wheat crop might be hard. 

I’ve heard some farmers interested in potentially going through and maybe no-tilling an oat crop into there in the spring, depending on weed pressure. We usually get pretty weed-free fields. I’d have to think through a little bit of the disease issues. Because we’re terminating fairly early, I think that there is probably less of a risk of that residue harboring fusarium, but we’re scouting and being diligent about knowing what’s been going on in our fields. Planting cereal grain into another cereal grain — particularly if it’s food grade — I get a little concerned about if we’re exacerbating any disease issues. 

But I know farmers have talked about that, because that’s trying to extend that no-till phase and taking advantage of that beautiful residue. There’s not a lot of stubble out there after harvesting soybeans, so you have a pretty nice, flat seedbed, and you’re not doing cultivation. Sometimes, no-tilling into organic can be difficult because with the process of cultivation you get a lot of ridging and you get a very uneven field. Trying to go in there and no-till can be kind of difficult because you do have quite a lot of undulation in the field. But with organic no-till, since you’re not cultivating, you have a much flatter start to the field for the next crop. 

ACRES U.S.A. Transitioning to your organizational work, can you talk a bit about OGRAIN?

SILVA. OGRAIN is the Organic Grain Resource and Information Network, and it’s part of my extension program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. OGRAIN has been around for at least six years now, and it was the brainchild of a former outreach specialist of mine, Anders Gurda. The motivation was to create a space for organic grain farmers to really learn from each other — as an organic grain community, to learn from each other through field days, through conferences, through virtual meetings. The program puts farmers first and foremost, and there’s just an incredible amount of knowledge and innovation in the farming community — not only from the farmers but from crop consultants and other industry experts. 

The email listserv has been a really valuable part of that — to build that community. We have about 800 people on the listserv, and people ask all sorts of questions related to organic grain production and marketing. I’m always so impressed by how open people are in terms of sharing their information. Typically, when a question gets posted, people get several responses and different perspectives. It’s been an incredibly valuable way to share information — to share resources and knowledge of events and marketing questions and information. 

We also have a website. We have a lot of videos posted on our website — archived videos of our conferences — and we have certain videos that we’ve created uniquely. Farmers love YouTube, and they love watching videos, so we have a lot of videos on our OGRAIN YouTube channel as well, linked through our OGRAIN website. 

ACRES U.S.A. What questions are you getting most from farmers right now? What’s most important to them? 

SILVA. From the no-till perspective, figuring out how to expand organic no-till into other crops. How do we make the system work for organic corn and organic cereal grains in particular? Every year we’re making headway. We’ve had the best yield that we’ve ever had in organic corn. I’m confident — either I’m a perpetual optimist or just stubborn — that we’ll be able to figure this out — not only with the growth and interest in organic, but the huge growth and interest in regenerative agriculture. There’s so much alignment between organic and regenerative and how much those movements can support each other and learn from each other.