ASHLAND — Ashland Soil and Water District offered aerial cover crop seeding on Wednesday to Ashland County farmers for the seventh year in a row.
ASWD partnered with Fisher Crop Care, based in Mount Vernon, to fly a plane above farmlands to spread cover crop seeds.
Farmers plant cover crops to protect and improve their soil during the fall and winter after summer harvesting.
Cover crops include clover, rye, oats and barley.
ASWD Director Jane Houin said cover crops are especially important to soy bean fields because after soy beans are harvested, the fields are left almost completely bare.
Bare fields can allow weeds to grow and the soil to erode. Cover crops hold the soil in place through their roots, protecting the fields from erosion and helping retain moisture.
Cover crops also provide important nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. These nutrients will eventually help the cash crops grow later in the season.
“This is something that’s really good for all of us,” Houin said.
Seeding cover crops via aerial dispersal gets the seeds on the field without compacting the soil, Houin said.
Houin said there is no reason to be alarmed if you see the plane flying low to the ground — that ensures the seeds reach the fields.
Only one plane seeded the fields. The plane held 4,000 pounds of seed during each load and soil conservation specialist Brennen Hart said ASWD purchased 40,000 pounds total.
The plane distributed the seeds across 500 to 600 acres of farmland.
The cover crop seed mixes range from $31 to 53 per acre, but some farmers were eligible for the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District’s cover crop cost-share program.
According to The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2022 Census of Agriculture, 10% to 15% of Ashland County’s total cropland used cover crops.
“It’s one of the many steps our farmers take in Ashland County to protect and preserve our natural resources,” Houin said.
