Anne Verhallen, Soil Management Specialist (Horticulture) with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, talks with Dr. Laura Van Eerd, Professor of Sustainable Soil Management, about Dr. Van Eerd's long-term cover crop trial in a processing vegetable-grain cropping system at the University of Guelph-Ridgetown Campus.
Since 2007, the University of Guelph-Ridgetown Campus has been conducting an experiment on long term cover crops in a processing vegetable-grain cropping system. The research is led by Dr. Laura Van Eerd, Professor of Sustainable Soil Management.
Dr. Van Eerd began her experiment in 2007, and ever since then the same plot has consistently and continuously had cover crop treatments with a processing vegetable-grain crop rotation. Which means Dr. Van Eerd has been gathering data for 13 years now.
In 2008 Dr Van Eerd set up a secondary similar plot (offset in crop rotation by one year) to understand variability and act as a control.
The experiment has provided data that shows that a cropping system which includes cover crops can potentially increase overall crop yield, and that overall soil health improves as a result of the system.
The Impact of cover crops in a processing vegetable-grain cropping system
Anne Verhallen, Soil Management Specialist (Horticulture) with OMAFRA talks with Dr. Laura Van Eerd