Organic farmers are in a tough spot when it comes to controlling weeds. Since conventional herbicides aren’t an option, many choose to use tillage, which involves mechanically turning over the soil to upend weeds. However, tillage can take a toll on soil health and cause runoff. Organic farmers increasingly are seeking better ways to control weeds while preserving soil health.

To help develop solutions for these farmers, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), Iowa State University and the Rodale Institute are embarking on a new project to assess current technologies that could be used in no-till organic systems and determine which practices will help farmers protect soil health in their fields. The project is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that totals $2.2 million, including matching funds.

“We hope to define a set of best management practices for maximizing organic grain production yield while minimizing environmental impact and improving soil health,” said Brian Luck, assistant professor of biological systems engineering at UW-Madison and project lead. “We are aiming to find the best combination of cover crops, cover crop termination methods, planting dates and planter setup to maximize yield potential in no-till organic systems.”

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With partners in Wisconsin, Iowa and Pennsylvania, researchers will have the opportunity to conduct trials at various sites to test planter technologies, cover crop types, planting dates, weed management strategies and more in the first three years of the grant-funded project. They will then use their findings to select the most promising management systems and test them across all of the participating field sites during the project’s fourth year.

Researchers will also conduct on-farm demonstrations for farmers and work to understand farmer perceptions and attitudes toward adopting various practices. They aim to integrate all of this knowledge into guidelines for growers and to disseminate the information throughout organic grain growing regions.

“Testing the methods across locations will ensure that the best management practices for no-till organic production hold up across varying soil types and growing environments,” Luck said. “Farmers will be able to understand what does and doesn’t work when implementing no-till practices in their organic production systems.”

The four-year grant is part of the NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant Program and is a 1:1 matching grant, which means that for every federal dollar received, the researchers match that amount through funds from their institutions as well as donations of time or supplies from cooperating farms and companies. Due to the structure of the grant, collaboration with industry and producers is essential and indispensable.

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“We’re excited to receive this funding from USDA-NRCS and to have invested collaborators who see the value of this work,” Luck said. “We think the work has great potential to change typical management practices associated with organic grain production.”

Other researchers involved in the project include UW-Madison soil scientist Matt Ruark and plant pathologist Erin Silva, Iowa State University agronomist/horticulturalist Kathleen Delate and Rodale Institute farm director Jeff Moyer and chief scientist Andrew Smith.