Crop Residue Management

Crop Residue Management

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett

Researchers say crop residue may be an under appreciated bi product of crop farming. And as water resources continue to dwindle it may be a more valuable tool to maintain soil moisture for growers.

Schneekloth: “We’re going to be dealing with less water over the long term.”

Joel Schneekloth is the Regional Water Resource Specialist at Colorado State University who has been studying crop residue management for the past 7 years. He says a lot of growers see crop residue as a commodity to sell to feed lots or tilled under trash.

Schneekloth: “A lot of producers are doing no till or strip till management. In reality they don't completely understand what’s going on, how it impacts their operations and that's what we've been trying to look at with this data, at least in the high plains, high elevation farming. Our conditions are much different than in some place in Iowa, Nebraska where they get precipitation and we don’t. So it’s impactful.”

Schneekloth will discuss the pros and cons of the different crop residue management styles during a webinar Crop Residue Management and Water on July 28th. Colorado Ag Water Alliance will host the webinar.

Schneekloth: “ Hopefully somebody can listen to it. They may not agree with everything. They may not want to do everything but they’ll learn from it and maybe make adjustments down the road.”

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