Cover Crops and Corn Stover Removal

There isn't a lot of corn stover taken off Clinton County fields but there is some. Today I was on a conference call that included Purdue Ag Economist Wally Tyner. Wally has been doing some work looking at corn stover markets and economics and I thought I'd share a bit of this with you.

Dr. Tyner has been evaluating the economics of baling and selling corn stover. I could make a long post out of this but instead I'll hit the highlights and provide a link which you can look over for additional information. The first key point is that in his research he found that around $60 a ton is where it seems to make sense for most producers to sell stover from off the field. Now there are some variables with this and one of the most significant is the distance to market as this substantially impacts profitability. In his research Dr. Tyner is using a removal rate of 33% of all stover produced, about 1.5 tons/acre.

Stover bale. Photo: Greg Roth, Penn State University.

Where things get interesting is when cover crops are factored into the equation. By using cover crops, an additional 1.8 tons/acre of stover can be removed without negative impacts on areas such as soil productivity and erosion. As the cost to plant cover crops is around $40/acre for most mixes, including cover crops with stover removal appears to pay off significantly.

These figures are general and each farmer should run his or her own numbers but it is interesting. If you would like additional information, Purdue Extension Publication RE-7-W, Synergies Between Cover Crops and Corn Stover Removal has much more information including details on assessments of agronomic benefits of various systems as well as the economics. I've included a link to it below.

Synergies Between Cover Crops and Corn Stover Removal