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Southeast WI | I appreciate your thoughtful response.
Bundy and Andraski at the UW did some work that was published about 7-8 years on this supposed "carbon penalty". I think that was a phrase coined by Ken Ferrie years ago and it's really a misnomer. What you describe happens, however Bundy showed that it's actually the stover cover that creates the N problem and slow growth. Not any kind of penalty from too much carbon. He showed this by removing stover and then covered the soil with some kind of plastic emulating the stover while removing any carbon component. The cover keeps the soil cooler and slows N mineralization. Net effect is the same but over time carbon/residue removal will likely lead to degraded soil conditions. Other long term work at the Arlington farm shows slight increases in SOM over time in cont corn grain systems. This is in excess of 50 years cont data collection.
I would never sell my residue. Short term gain, long term loss. I would look at different ways to overcome this. Spring strip till may be an option, placing N with the planter is another way to supply N early and in the right place. It will take a little more N by leaving residue. | |
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cover crops and baling cornstalks
