John Raisler

I know the title is "Alternative Crops", but I consider all the crops I grow on my farm "Rotational Crops". These include the following in our operation: Spring Wheat; Durum; Oats; Peas; Lentils; Mustard; Alfalfa Hay and Seed; Millet.

These crops all have a reason for being in my rotation. First, lets look at spring wheat, oats and durum. These are all cool season grass crops that have a medium rooting depth and are very efficient user of soil nutrients. For the Most part they have fairly stable and established markets in the area. (Which for the most part is below cost of production, but up to this point has been planted more for government program payment.)

Next, lets look at peas and lentils. These two are probably the most exciting in my rotation because they not only produce an excellent crop to harvest and market, but they also fix a fair amount of $ .30 per lb. nitrogen in the ground for the crops to follow in the rotation. The other effect that I have seen but cannot completely explain is the increased infiltration and soil tilth that both these crops seem to promote.

One of the newest crops we have started growing is yellow mustard. We felt we needed a crop in the system that would be a low moisture using broad leaf that could be contracted into a market fairly close to us. Another possibility here is to also look at canola for the same reasons and benefits.

Alfalfa has been a crop on the farm for many years but was mostly confined to wet areas that have saline problems. For the past three years we have been moving alfalfa out of the bottoms and into whole field plantings. With adequate fertility in a three year rotation we have been able to harvest some excellent hay crops with very good feed values. I also have been harvesting seed off of some of our acreage with good results.

Last is millet as well as looking at raising corn in the rotation. Both of these crops are warm season grasses which can not only change your disease cycling, but also give you a whole new attack on weeds. These crops also offer some excellent market opportunities in our area.

The main thing I want to convey in this talk is the fact that all these crops fit into a system of rotation on my farm. ~ system may not work in your situation, but our goal should be diversity in all no till continuous cropping situations.