Area farmers are rolling winter rye cover crops this week in anticipation of planting spring crops. These photos are from the Brock Family Farm. Kirk Brock constructed a home-built roller to roll down rye. This will be sprayed with Glyphosate and 2,4-D to completely terminate growth of rye and winter annuals. Kirk will no-till or strip till corn, peanuts, soybeans and cotton in a few weeks.

Kirk has adopted this practice for many reasons; reduce water and wind erosion, increase water infiltration, reduce weed emergence and growth, reduce evaporation and soil temperature, and most importantly to increase yields and reduce workload.