Managing for Profit

Iowa couple sticks with cover crops

An Iowa farm couple isn’t giving up on cover crops.  Bret and Karen Seipold say their first try at cover crops didn’t go as planned, but they were determined to stay with them to improve soil quality and reduce erosion.  The persist with cover crops and other conservation practices on their Southwest Iowa farm.  Bret Seipold says in this feature first aired on Brownfield Ag News in August, he wants to farm with less negative impact on soil.

“And one way is with cover crops,” Bret Seipold told Brownfield.  “I was wanting to just learn as much as I could about cover crops to see if that would work good on my farm for soil quality and reduced erosion.”

Karen Seipold says she and Bret were determined “to keep these practices in place in a consistent way that is successful.”

In addition to cover crops, the Seipolds use other conservation practices, which Karen and Bret say improve their bottom line.  Plus, says Karen Seipold, the sustainable farming methods help insure that the couple can pass the farm to succeeding generations if their choice is to work the land.

“This,” says Karen Seipold, referring to their farm, “will be here a lot longer than we will.”

AUDIO: Bret and Karen Seipold (3 min. MP3)