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The field went unplanted during the 2022 season because of drought, so they didn’t have to address post-harvest rice straw management. In prior years, Gallagher said they used a forage chop- per to cut the straw into inch-long pieces to aid winter decomposition. Brim-DeForest said straw manage- ment was an issue at the Rice Experiment Station, which had water and grew rice in 2022. Despite disking the ground twice, the cover crop still had trouble germinat- ing through the vegetative mat. In the delta demonstration, UCCE delta crops resource management advi- sor Michelle Leinfelder-Miles said they planted cover crop seed in November and used a harrow to lightly till it in. The site re- ceived more than 3.5 inches of rain shortly after planting, which likely didn’t help ger- mination. The area is also wintering habi- tat for sandhill cranes and other migratory birds, which ate most of the seed or young plants before they could make a stand. She agreed with Brim-DeForest that more data is needed on cover crops in rice, especially under the unique delta conditions. As part of the demonstration, Leinfelder-Miles will compare cover crops to delta rice producers’ standard practice of winter flooding, which helps slow soil oxidation. In the demonstrations, weeks of stand- ing water in January took a toll on the
Colusa County farmer Kim Gallagher recommends exploring cover crops, though she did not have much success with them on rice ground. Her cover crop, which looked strong in December, couldn’t withstand the drenching from heavy rains this year.
cover crops, killing most of the plants that were completely underwater. After two years of struggling to get a cover crop stand in her field near the demonstration site, Gallagher decided to pull drains last fall. In early December, she said, the cover crop looked strong, and she was optimistic. Then historic rains came, and the field was underwater for more than a month. Most of the plants that had leaves above water survived while those that were
entirely submersed died. The drainage helped, and Gallagher said she learned that more is better. “We need as many drains as we can, which I think is really helpful, but I think bigger drains would be great,” she said. “Then you just have to be willing to work that up in the spring.” Should rice producers want to explore cover crops, Gallagher recommended looking at the additional expense. She has received cost-share funding through USDA’s EQIP Conservation Stewardship Program and Project Apis m.’s Seeds for Bees Program, which promotes planting pollinator forage. “It’s really cost prohibitive,” Gallagher said. “Using all of the programs out there has been a big advantage for me.” Without those, she said, cover crops wouldn’t pencil out for her. Tom Johnson, an agronomist with Kamprath Seed Co., said he’s seen more interest in cover crops in recent years, partly due to incentives such as EQIP.
“But the biggest trick is how do we fit them into the entire cropping system?” he said. Kurt Richter, who grows rice and other row crops near Colusa, said he’s trying to figure out his goals and where cover crops might work. He is consider- ing two fields. One is sandy and may benefit from ad- ditional organic matter to improve wa- ter-holding capacity. The other has salin- ity issues that impede water infiltration. “I think it’s time to start messing around with it,” Richter said. Hearing about the flooding challenges, he said he probably would plant cover crops on beds with the same equipment used for his tomato fields. Richter said having the plants on higher ground should theoretically help keep them above standing water and produce a better stand. (Vicky Boyd is a reporter in Modesto. She may be contacted at vlboyd@att.net.)
8 Ag Alert May 17, 2023
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