Beans Planted Over Terminated Cover Crop

This is a field I drive by going out to the farm. A few days ago I noticed the farmer working this land no-tilling beans into this terminated cover crop. There is a lot of interest in trying to incorporate cover crops into our corn-soybean rotation. In this field I noticed last fall after the corn was harvested there were green plants growing. This spring there was a lot of cover crop growth before the beans were planted.

When a cover crop is planted, you have to have a plan of how and when the cover crop will be terminated. In some cases that might be tillage but in most it is using a herbicide. This farmer used a herbicide to kill the cover crop a few days before the beans were planted. There were some pretty big hills in this field so I am sure the farmer did not want to use tillage and risk a heavy rain and soil erosion. Farmers are always trying to find a better way to produce a crop while at the same time protection the environment!