PAW PAW, Mich. — Small planes with big engines and confident pilots broke through the morning mist, landing during early hours at the Watervliet, Mich., airport on Aug. 27.
Their objective for the day was to cover 2,500 acres with an aerial seeding of annual rye grass or a rapeseed/ryegrass cover crop mix as part of the Van Buren Conservation District’s cooperative fly-on program. Nick’s Flying Service of LaGrange, Ind., provided air power for the day while seed blends were supplied by Scott’s Cover Crops of Pierceton, Ind.
The program, in its third year, is directed by Colleen Forestieri, conservation tech-nician. Growers who participate receive partial reimbursement for seed and incor-porating no-till practices into some or all of their acreage. The program is partially funded by a grant through the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission.
The initial three-year grant sought to reduce runoff and sediment loading into the area’s water resources, a valuable piece of the local economy that attract tourists and their spending power from nearby Chicago and its suburbs. Producers within the targeted watershed signed up for three years of cost-share.
As the grant cycle comes to a close, some farmers have chosen to continue the practices without the benefit of cost-share, while others will return to the familiarity of conventional tillage.
According to Forestieri, the first year of the program brought change to 1,000 acres, followed by 3,300 in 2014, then 2,500 in 2015, for a total of 7,000 acres impacted by the program. "Some of these acres were repeat acres," she explained.
A number of growers in Cass and Berrien counties also participated in the cooper-ative; however, they were not eligible for cost-share under the current grant.
While this year’s acreage decline was a disappointment, Forestieri recognizes it was more about economics than belief in the no-till/cover crop approach. "Something’s got to give with these market conditions. Our growers are cutting fertilizer and pinching dollars in a lot of places. It’s a tough year in general to ask farmers to spend more money."
She points out many members of the cooperative truly believe in changing tillage methods and using cover crops, viewing it as an opportunity to really build on something that is long-term and will radically improve soil health.
Jamie Scott of Scott’s Cover Crop Service believes in the power of cover to improve soil health for the long run and has experienced the results on his own farm. He also feels aerial application is the best way for cover crops to be seeded in northern climates.
By waiting for the crop to be harvested and drilling into stubble, more than a month of growing opportunity is lost and plant establishment is nearly impossible, even in southern Lower Michigan.
"From September 7 to October 10, you lose 1.5 hours of sunlight and 12 degrees’ temperature. In southern Michigan, that seed needs to be on by September 1 at the latest to guarantee a stand establishment, as long as there is at least some rain or irrigation," he said.
The pilots who guided the Air Tractors provided a day’s worth of entertainment not only to participating farmers but the entire community, soaring and diving over fields, avoiding trees, power lines and grain legs in the process. Unless an individual was standing close enough to a field to be pelted with seed, the actual purpose of seeding 25 pounds of seed per acre took a backseat to 135-145 mph aerial acrobatics.
Each plane carries a seed load between 500-630 pounds per tractor in addition to the pilot, plane and fuel while burning between 50-70 gallons of fuel per hour. An air guidance and mapping system guides pilots to the correct field coordinates and a light bar monitors the swath pattern.
As the current grant comes to a close, Forestieri and the Van Buren Conservation District are working toward obtaining another to address similar issues in other watersheds within the county, and hope to affect many more acres in the future.
