Wheat-Cover Crop
James Frey, Manitoba Agriculture
Jessica Frey, Parkland Crop Diversification Foundation
To demonstrate the use of cover cropping strategies
Poor emergence resulted in high weed pressure in the trial. PCDF decided to continue the trial for
observational purposes only. The wheat was harvested by a small plot combine, although due to poor establishment, the wheat yield was not calculated.
Cover cropping is of growing interest to many Manitoba farmers. Cover crops can be planted alone or with a cash crop, and can perform a number of significant functions for the soil, including controlling soil erosion after harvest of the cash crop, sequestering and increasing soil nutrients, and improving water infiltration. Seeding a cover crop with a cash crop can reduce fieldwork in the following year, allowing the cover crop to be used as a source of fertility (i.e. green manure), forage crop or cash crop.