Tamarack Farms Quinoa Cover Crop
Ryan Pengelly, Tamarack Farms
To demonstrate the use of cover cropping strategies
In 2018, quinoa was planted with cover crops (see Table 1). Insect damage (especially from stem borer) resulted in no quinoa yield in 2018. The cover crops, however, established well. It is uncertain how the cover crops would have performed if the quinoa crop had performed well, increasing competition for water and sunlight. Additional research is needed to determine the performance of annual and perennial cover crops planted with quinoa.
Cover cropping is of growing interest to many Manitoba farmers. Cover crops perform a number of significant functions for the soil, including but not limited to controlling soil erosion after the harvest of the cash crop, increasing soil nutrients, and improving water infiltration.
Observations from this trial suggest that planting quinoa with a cover crop may be a beneficial practice. Establishing a cover crop with the quinoa crop would provide a living ground cover during the fall and into the next season (depending on the overwintering habit of the cover crop species). The cover crop could be used for fall or spring grazing, or for use as a green manure before planting the next crop. Alternatively, the cover crop could be harvested for seed. PCDF has plans to try this test again in 2020.