The National Corn Growers Association is the administrator for the Soil Health Partnership which was launched at the 2014 Commodity Classic and Corn Board member Kevin Ross believes it’s a very worthwhile initiative for farmers and all involved.
“I’m really pleased with the direction it’s heading,” said Ross at the first Soil Health Summit last week in St. Louis. “It’s really good to see these groups on the same page with a common goal and that’s soil health.”
Ross, who is a farmer from Minden, Iowa, says he thinks of soil as a living, breathing thing that needs care to maintain and improve its health. “It’s just like your personal health, you have to manage it and correct things if there’s an issue,” he said.
On his farm, Ross says they are 100% no-till and are experimenting with cover crops. “This last year we had some hail issues so it didn’t work out so well but I will continue to try them,” he said, with the idea of using them as grazing for his cattle operation.
Listen to my interview with Kevin here: [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/ncga/ncga-shps15-ross.mp3″ text=”Interview with Iowa corn grower Kevin Ross, NCGA Corn Board”]