Add profit with extended rotation

Jeff Steffen learned a lot about risk management while growing corn and soybeans through the 1980s on his family’s farm near Crofton, Nebraska. Then, poor crop prices coupled with dry weather robbed profitability.

Some years later, prices and weather turned around, but Steffen was determined to make changes to prepare for the future. “I wanted to get ready for when farming conditions might go south again,” he says.

That determination set Steffen and his wife, Jolene, on a farming journey that has built resiliency into their crops and soils, increasing profitability along the way. Most notable among their changes have been a switch to no-till, the inclusion of cover crops, and the addition of a cool-season crop to lengthen the rotation.

A single year’s corn crop is tough to beat for earning revenue, but Steffen has found that breaking up the corn-soybean rotation with oats, cereal rye, or peas earns added revenue when he figures average annual profitability across the breadth of the extended rotation.

“In any given year,” he says, “oats might lose money. But you have to figure the net profit of the whole system. And when you do that, the extended rotation might turn out to be more profitable than a corn-corn or a corn-soybean cropping sequence.”

Profitability results

The added profitability of an extended rotation, Steffen has found, results from the reduced inputs the cereal grain or peas require, along with the reduced inputs needed as a result of increasing soil health. Steffen has cut costs for fertilizer, pesticides, and seed to earn an additional $100 to $200 per acre in net profit over a straight corn-soybean rotation.

To document the added profitability of an extended rotation, Steffen worked with a crop adviser from 2015 to 2019 to document the profitability of a five-year rotation of corn-soybean-oats-soybean-corn on 600 acres. He analyzed his crop budgets using templates from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and shared what he learned through a “farminar” hosted by Practical Farmers of Iowa.

The analysis showed that the extended rotation earned an average net profit of $202 an acre per year. The profitability in the five-year rotation exceeded that of corn-corn and corn-soybeans cropping sequences by up to $142 per year. Compared with UNL’s cost projections, Steffen’s annual savings, resulting from reduced costs for field operations, chemical, seed, and fertilizer, averaged $132 an acre across the five-year rotation.

While cereal grains typically require fewer inputs than corn, the soil biology of a healthy system also helps reduce inputs by performing the services synthetic fertilizers and pesticides previously provided.

Strategic crop rotation

Creative crop sequencing helps as well. As the Steffens’ cropping system has evolved, they have adopted a flexible, stacked rotation. “We give the rotation at least a two-year break from both corn and soybeans,” Jeff says. “Periodically, we’ll work in a three-year break from corn or soybeans. We want to give the crops a break in the disease and weed cycles. At least one year in five, we’ll include a cool-season crop like oats, cereal rye, or field peas.”

Steffen’s ideal crop rotation is corn-corn-oats-soybean-oats or rye-corn.

He points out that stacking the extended rotation in creative sequences breaks up the weeds, diseases, and pests that typically flourish in more predictable rotations.

As a result, he can lower seed costs by planting non-GMO seed. “Seventy-five to 80% of our corn crop is non-GMO,” he says. “We have found that as our soil health has improved and our crop rotation has become more diversified, we don’t need the traits of GMO seed.

“That represents a cost savings, but it doesn’t take much crop loss to eat up the savings,” he cautions.

The Steffens have also reduced input costs by planting untreated seed, which they obtain by special order through their seed provider. “Planting untreated seed helps our soil life,” Jeff says. “It’s the soil life that provides the nutrient cycling that’s critical to soil fertility. But the system must first be healthy to benefit from these reduced inputs.”

Building healthy soil

Critical to the building of a healthy soil system is the cereal crop. Steffen manages his cereals to add as much carbon to the soil as possible. The carbon provides fuel for the soil microorganisms.

“In a simple corn-soybean rotation, every year you plant soybeans, you take a step backward in soil carbon because soybeans leave so little residue in the field,” he says. “You take a step forward with corn, but the soybeans wipe out the advantage the following year.”

Similarly, the advantage of including a high-residue cereal grain in the rotation is wiped out by removing the straw from the field, he suggests. “I leave the straw on the field to get as much carbon into the system as possible,” Steffen says.

He harvests oats, for instance, by leaving the header as high as possible. He then ensures a uniform spreading of residue across the field by setting the combine spreader so the spreading pattern is as wide as the combine header.

After harvesting the cereal grain in late July or early August, Steffen no-tills a multiple-species cover crop into the grain stubble. “The cover crop mix will include as many as 12 species,” he says. “I blend warm-season species with cool-season species. If we get moisture, by the end of September the cover crop will look like a jungle, yielding 6,000 to 10,000 pounds of dry matter per acre.”

In fall and early winter, he custom-grazes the cover crop with dry cows. The cover crop yields 90 to 100 cow days per acre of grazing, he says, and the cows gain condition. Steffen values the soil-covering mat of trampled residue the cattle leave behind.

He also plants cover crops behind corn and soybeans. “I plant cereal rye after corn,” he says. “After soybeans, I plant cereal rye and vetch, unless the field is to be planted to oats the following spring. If a field is going from corn to corn, I will plant a cover crop of rye and vetch.”

By including cover crops and cereal grains in their rotation, the Steffens have improved the health of their soil. Also, soil erosion on their hilly fields and sandy soils has been reduced.

Water infiltration has also improved as a result of improving soil biology, thus increasing the size of soil aggregates. According to tests run on their farm by local Natural Resources Conservation Service staff, water infiltration occurs at an average rate of 14 inches per hour.

“Last year we had a rain event where we had rain falling at an hourly rate of 10 inches,” Steffen says. “That amount of rain can wash out seed, causing replanting. But on our farm, the water never left our fields.”

While improving soil by adding cereal grains and cover crops to the rotation has certainly lowered Steffen’s input costs, he advises farmers to experiment on a small scale with cutting back on inputs before making big management changes.

“First of all, your soil and cropping systems have to be healthy,” he says. “Then you might consider dabbling at making changes on a small scale for a few years before making those changes on a whole-field scale.

“Learn the principles of soil health, and follow them,” he advises. “Then stick with those soil management practices for the long haul.”