Growing the Future

Cover Crop Hype vs. What Works on Dry Land

Episode Summary

Scott Gillespie, a regenerative agriculture consultant and host of the Plants Dig Soil podcast, joins Dan to bring a realistic, economics first lens to cover cropping in Western Canada's short season, semi-arid growing conditions. He walks through his FIRST framework for deciding whether a cover crop belongs on a given field, and why species selection, the part most producers start with, should actually come last. The tension is that most cover crop advice comes from regions with far more moisture and a much longer growing window, advice that can cost a Prairie producer their next cash crop if followed without adjustment. Producers walk away with a clear-eyed way to evaluate cover cropping on its actual return, not on the hype around it.

Episode Notes

Cover crops work in North Dakota and Ontario. That doesn't mean they work in the Palliser's Triangle. Scott Gillespie, a regenerative agriculture consultant and host of the Plants Dig Soil podcast, joins Dan to make the case for a realistic, ROI first approach to cover cropping in Western Canada's short season, semi-arid growing conditions.

What's Inside

• His FIRST framework, Fit, Implementation, Return on Investment, Species, and Termination, for deciding if a cover crop actually belongs on a field
• Why holding soil in place during a windstorm is the fastest and clearest return most producers will ever get from cover cropping
• The real reason multi-generational farms resist trying new practices, and it isn't stubbornness
• Why species selection should be the last decision in the process, not the first
• What relay interseeding cover crops into an existing crop can unlock that a post-harvest planting never will

Take the Cover Crop Course here:  https://plantsdigsoil.thinkific.com/courses/cover-crops-prairies?coupon=future
 

Plants Dig Soil podcast: https://www.plantsdigsoil.com/podcast
 

Connect with Scott: 

Website: plantsdigsoil.com

Twitter: scottgillespie

Linkedin:  scottgillespie

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