{"id":26700,"date":"2023-09-25T15:05:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T15:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=26700"},"modified":"2023-09-25T15:05:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T15:05:16","slug":"aerial-applicators-seeding-cover-crops-by-air-early-this-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/national-news\/aerial-applicators-seeding-cover-crops-by-air-early-this-fall\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Aerial Applicators Seeding Cover Crops by Air Early This Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>While the farm season is winding down, aerial applicators\nare still working by seeding cover crops via aircraft. You may continue to hear\nthe hum of an aircraft\u2019s engine until early fall. One of the most promising\nconservation practices aerial applicators can assist farmers with is aerially\napplying cover crop seeds, which are grasses, legumes, small grains, and other\nlow-maintenance crops planted specifically to improve soil health and\nbiodiversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cover crops are important to farmlands because they control\nerosion; nourish, retain and recycle soil nutrients; build organic matter and\nadd hydration to improve soil health; improve water quality; and break disease\nand insect cycles. The roots of the cover crop improve soil structure by\ncreating passages that allow for increased moisture and aeration. Soil\ncompaction is essentially eliminated when seeding is done with aerial\napplication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/cessna_188_opt-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26702\" width=\"260\" height=\"124\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/cessna_188_opt-2.jpeg 613w, https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/cessna_188_opt-2-300x143.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 260px) 100vw, 260px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cQuick growing cover crops hold soil in place, protect\nagainst erosion from wind, rainfall and snowmelt,\u201d said Andrew D. Moore, chief\nexecutive officer of NAAA. \u201cBy slowing erosion and run-off, this in turn helps\nprotect water quality by reducing sediment in streams, rivers, and lakes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Growing cover crops also increases soil carbon\nsequestration, which involves removing and storing carbon dioxide from the\natmosphere. Aerial applicators seed 3.8 million acres of cover crops annually\nwhich means they are responsible for helping to sequester 1.9 million metric\ntons of CO2 equivalent annually. According to the EPA, this would be the\nequivalent of removing approximately 412,000 cars with carbon-combustion\nengines from the roads each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aerial application offers the ability to spread the cover\ncrop seed over the existing cash crop without any disruption to the standing\ncrop. This means the cover crop can already be established when the cash crop\nis harvested. Using a drill to plant cover crops requires a terrestrial vehicle\nand for the grower to wait until their cash crop is out of the field, which\nmight not be the best timing for establishing a healthy cover crop. This can be\nespecially true in northern parts of the U.S. where the first frost can\ninterfere with cover crop growth if they are seeded too late. Aerial\napplication can also be used when the soil is wet and can seed many acres\nquickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the farm season is winding down, aerial applicators are still working by seeding cover crops via aircraft. You may continue to hear the hum of an aircraft\u2019s engine until early fall. One of the most promising conservation practices aerial applicators can assist farmers with is aerially applying cover crop seeds, which are grasses, legumes, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-front-page-slider","category-national-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/AT-602edit-3.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26703,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26700\/revisions\/26703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}