Cedar Meadow Farm

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Cedar Meadow Farm

• Practicing No-Till and Permanent Cover Crop
  Techniques

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Steve Groff

• Successfully combining no-till, cover crops, and
  crop rotations that include vegetables, hay, and
  grain crops for over a decade

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Location

• Holtwood, Pennsylvania
• Lancaster County
• Predominantly dairy and vegetable farming area
• Amish and Mennonite compose majority of producers

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Land

• 215 acres total
• 175 owned
• 35 rented
• 80 vegetable
• production

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Crops Grown at Cedar Meadow Farm

• Processing Tomatoes
• Fresh Market Tomatoes
• Sweet Corn
• Field/Ornamental Corn
• Alfalfa/Mixed grasses
• Pumpkins Gourds
• Peppers
• Soybeans
• Wheat
• Cover Crop Seed

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Steve Cheri Groff

• Manage on-farm activities

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Elias Marian Groff

• Responsible for marketing of outputs

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Labor

• One full-time employee
• Seasonal employees
• Community-based part-time employees
• Family

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Soil

• dominant soil type is a Chester Loam
• mixed silt and clay loam
• slopes of the different fields range from 3 to 17
  percent

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Lancaster County

• Part of Chesapeake Bay watershed
• Characterized by sloping farmland
• Notorious for soil erosion into Susquehanna River

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Evolution of Current Farming Practices
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-Farm had major soil loss during rain
events -Soil loss caused significant gullies and
ditches formed -Areas that were impassible by
tractor and unsuitable for crop growth formed.
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-Steve began working on the farm full time after
high school -Became primary manager of the
farm -Noticed that his soil was being
depleted The number one asset on the farm is
soil Steve Groff
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Changing Management Practices

• Primary Goal- To leave the soil in a better
  condition than when he began farming it.

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How Steve Did It

• No-Till (1981)
• Permanent cover crops (1991)
• Creation of grass-covered waterways
• Drip irrigation (2000)

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To create a successful sustainable no-till system
Steve incorporates permanent cover cropping.
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Why No-Till?

• Reduce tractor and machinery use (implies reduced
  fuel use)

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• Increase soil biological activity
• -Less disturbance of soil aggregates is less
  hazardous to soil dwelling organisms

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• Prevents release of Carbon Dioxide into the
  atmosphere
• Leaves Carbon in the soil

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No-Till Equipment
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Permanent Cover Cropping
Goal To have something growing in the soil at
all times

• Cover crops are cropsthat are grown not for
  immediate economic gain through harvest but for
  their abilities to protect and improve soil
  quality.

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Example of Cover Crops That Steve Uses

• Crimson clover
• Alfalfa
• Sun hemp
• Hairy Vetch
• Rye

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Benefits of Cover Crops

• Legume Cover Crops
• -used to add N to the soil
• Examples
• Crimson Clover
• Hairy Vetch
• Sun Hemp
• Alfalfa

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• Weed Suppression
• Prevention of water splashing on high-value crops
  such as tomatoes and pumpkins
• Residue prevents soil from drying out
• Cover crops add organic matter to soil

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• Provides habitats for insects
• Slug damage

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Steves Method of Killing Cover Crops

• Spray cover crop with reduced percentage of
  suggested rate of Round-Up (unless crop has
  already gone to seed)
• Roll-down crop using the rolling stock chopper
• Plant new crop directly into rolled down crop

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Water Ways

• Grass-covered waterways prevent soil erosion by
  covering and holding soil in place during rain
  events

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Drip Irrigation

• Applies water/fertilizer directly to soil at a
  slow rate, reducing soil loss by water run-off

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Nutrient ManagementUnderstanding the language
of the plants

• Complete soil analysis every 3 years
• Nutrient Inputs
• Hog manure
• Fertilizer (planting,drip irrigation, foliar)
• Nitrogen from legume cover crops

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Crop Rotation
Underlying Principal Follow a vegetable crop
with a field crop

• Tomatoes 4 year rotation
• Corn and Soybeans no more than 2 consecutive
  years
• Hay remains in field for 4 consecutive years
• Cover crops shift towards diversity

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Economics

• Farms largest expense is labor
• Other expenses include seeds, seedlings, fossil
  fuel, chemicals, irrigation, machinery

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Economics

• Farms early produce is sold at the Leola Auction
• Sweet Corn and Tomatoes go to Genaurdis in a
  Plant to Plate marketing strategy

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Plant to Plate

• Receives a premium price for sweet corn and
  tomatoes
• Tomatoes are in Genaurdis grocery stores within
  48hrs of picking and sweet corn is on shelf
  within 12hrs

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Flow Chart
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Pest Problems
Slug
Stink bug
Whiteflies
European Corn Borer
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Haygrove High Tunnels
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• Both the Haygrove (1 acre) and the High Tunnels
  enable Steve to plant tomatoes long before they
  could be planted in the field
• Because the tunnels are mostly isolated from the
  outside, there is an opportunity to control pest
  insects using biological control

Two-spotted spider mite
Spider mite predator
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Visiting Prof. Istvan (University of Budapest)
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Daily Bravo coffee break
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