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FIGURE 9.2. Brazilian-type roller/crimper with a detailed look at the height of the crimping bar. Traditional Brazilian-type rolling/crimping equipment consists of a steel drum with attached crimping bars equally spaced on the drum’s surface (Figure 9.2). This has not been widely adopted in the United States because vibration from the crimper bars is transferred to […]

Termination methods include rolling/crimping, herbicide application, mowing, burning and incorporation. Rolling/crimping results in a mat of cover crop residue on the soil surface. Plants are flattened by the roller and crimped at regular intervals in one pass. The objective is to discourage root growth by injuring the plant without cutting the stem. All the plants […]

Ted S. Kornecki, USDA-ARS Kipling S. Balkcom, USDA-ARS In conservation tillage systems, cash crop seeds or transplants are placed in the soil through cover crop residues on the soil surface. The residue inhibits weed emergence, increases rainfall infiltration, conserves soil moisture, keeps the soil cool and prevents the soil erosion and nutrient loss associated with […]

Rotating perennial grasses with row crops adds economic value, increases yields and has environmental advantages when compared to standard conservation rotations. You can think of it as the next step after adopting conservation tillage. Cropping systems need to be flexible to take advantage of economic opportunities and to adapt to the environment. The sod-based system […]

Table 8.2 shows the crops, costs and revenue for an example 200-acre farm transitioning to a sod-based rotation with livestock grazing. Prior to the first year, the farm used a standard conservation rotation with two-thirds of the farm in cotton and one-third in peanuts. The net returns for the standard conservation rotation are shown at […]

About 50 percent of the row-crop farms in Alabama and about 25–30 percent of row-crop farms in Florida and Georgia have livestock [33]. This is an opportunity for sod-based rotations. Livestock provide many advantages to row-crop farming. They are an inexpensive method for harvesting low-value crops or forage and turning them into meat or milk […]

Growing bahiagrass for two years prior to growing row crops in a conservation tillage system has numerous economic and environmental advantages over standard conservation practices. The chemical and physical properties of the soil are improved. Crop yields increase, pest pressure decreases, and the need for fertilizer, pesticides and irrigation decreases. This section reviews the benefits […]

The sod-based rotation shown in Figure 8.1 starts with two years of bahiagrass, followed by one year of peanuts, then one year of cotton: bahiagrass>winter cover>bahiagrass>winter cover >peanuts>winter cover>cotton>winter cover. When the rotation begins, there is a winter cover crop in the field; if it is being grazed, bahiagrass is overseeded into the cover crop. […]

David L. Wright, University of Florida James J. Marois, University of Florida Cheryl L. Mackowiak, University of Florida Duli Zhao, USDA-ARS Sheeja George, University of Florida Cliff Lamb, University of Florida Agriculture in the United States followed the European model of integrating livestock and row crops until the mid-20th century when mechanization and specialization caused […]

Many of the cash crops common to the Southeast can be incorporated into a crop rotation that improves yields, reduces pest and disease pressure, and improves soil health. Depending on the desired crops and local conditions, they can be grown using reduced tillage in two-, three- or four-year rotations that include cover crops. When selecting […]