Crop Rotation | Midwestern BioAg

It’s All About Getting Your Fertility Right

By: Midwestern BioAg Staff · L-CBF, Weed Control, Technology, Fertilizer, Cover Crops, Crop Rotation

“Profitability.” That’s the most important thing Midwestern BioAg has brought to the Fairibault, MN farming operation of Bryan and Tammy Lips, says Bryan. Balanced soils, good fertility, and diverse rotations including cover crops and green manure crops are among the biological farming tools Bryan has been using for the past eight years on his 450 acres. He raises corn, oats, and alfalfa on a mixture of owned and rented land, with about half of the acres farmed conventionally and half certified organic.

Cover Crop Basics: A Q&A with Gary Zimmer

By: Caitlin Roberts · Crop Rotation, Erosion, Nutrients, Soil Capacity, Weed Control, Soil, Water, Cover Crops, Tillage

Midwestern BioAg President Gary Zimmer has planted cover crops on his farm for years. In this Q&A, we sit down with him to learn the basics of cover crop management and the resulting benefits they bring to the farm.
How do I select a cover crop for my farm?
Zimmer: First, identify the purpose for your cover crop. Will it provide nitrogen or scavenge it? Do you want to use it for grazing? How about to build organic matter?

Farmers Find Forages Profitable

By: Mary Pohlman · Fertilizer, Crop Rotation, Forages, L-CBF, Bio-Cal®

Forages play many important roles on the farm — as cash crops, livestock feeds, and pastures, and in healthy soil rotations. Midwestern BioAg’s Forage Program can help farmers unlock the full potential of their forage crop and maximize farm profitability.
Forages as Cash Crops
Twenty-year Midwestern BioAg customer Lauren Enzinger raises a large crop of alfalfa and alfalfa-grass mix hay each year. Supplying quality forages to his customer base is a major part of his operation.

From the Farm of Gary Zimmer

By: Gary Zimmer, Founder · Soil, Cover Crops, Crop Rotation, Forages, Technology

Dear Farmer/Agribusiness person,
It seems like a long time has passed since I last sat down to write for the newsletter. Change is the only for certain thing that happens in life. Somehow we always seem to get a crop—this year was certainly better than last. Sure, it didn’t look that way in the beginning of June. It was raining every day (or so it seemed): the corn was not planted, the hay was getting more mature.