CROP INFORMATION

Acre Stats:  Tillable - 2750  |  Corn - 1250  |  Hay crop - 1500

We are constantly looking for ways that we can improve our field management practices to improve our efficiency, reduce our costs, improve our yields while at the same time we need to optimize our resources and protect our environment. We have successfully transitioned all of our cropland to a no-till system.  Changes moving forward will be in experimenting with different cover crops to help with soil compaction and soil health and also retaining nutrients for the future corn crop.  We will also continue to push plant populations and fine tune planting techniques to maximize yields.

The conversion to no-till has so far been very rewarding.  It has allowed us to complete our planting in a timely manner on our challenging land base.  With cover cropping we have also been able to focus our corn acres on the best suited land and rotate our crops less, saving on costs and increasing yields.  We maintain our vertical tillage equipment to be used when needed on land with compaction issues and for smoothing rough areas created from harvesting or manure application.    We have used Joel Myers from Pennsylvania No-till Alliance and NRCS staff for our consulting advise during the transition.          

No-till farming is a way of growing crops from year to year without disturbing the soil through tillage. No-till will aid in moisture retention, reduce erosion, increase soil health and living organisms in the soil, plus it will greatly aid in the retention of nutrients.

"No-Till farming is an excellent way to get more annual crops in your crop rotation because it reduces soil erosion greatly."  Sandra Primard, USDA-NRCS Agronomist

We have added flotation tires on trucks to reduce soil compaction.  Fall cover cropping was done on 550 acres of corn land for the 2009 growing season.  This was a major step taken to make the full transition to no-till.  The winter rye that was no-till seeded in the fall reached growth heights of 8" - 12" this spring before being sprayed with Round-up.  These rye plants established root masses in the soil to optimize soil health.  Root depth on rye was found at around 18" when test pits were dug.  This practice will allow us to fully convert to no-till and increase soil health at the same time.

The second essential job of the cover crop is to retain nutrients in the soil that are present after corn removal and the nutrients that are applied through the dairy manure. The cover crop will then slowly release the nutrients that it retained throughout the fall and spring back to the corn during the growing season.

Fairmont Farm, Inc.   | 95 Lyle Young Road  |  East Montpelier, VT  05651  |  (802) 223-3868