Organic no-till planting into roller-crimped cover crops can reduce costs and improve soil health, but equipment challenges, weed pressure, and yield tradeoffs hinder adoption. This project developed adaptive strategies to manage weeds, sustain yields, and minimize tillage throughout a field crop rotation. Multisite trials were conducted to identify workable cover crop – cash crop pairs for no-till planting of warm- and cool-season cash crops, fine-tune practices for no-till soybean in roller-crimped cereal rye, and evaluate interrow mowing, electrical weed zapping, and increased seeding rates for weed suppression and for living mulch corn production.

No-till soybeans performed well in roller-crimped rye or triticale, though dry conditions at planting reduced stands and yields. Deeper planting when decision tools indicate spring moisture deficits mitigated this problem. High biomass rye residue suppressed annual weeds and high soybean populations reduced perennial weeds; together, these two tactics reduced weed pressure. High seeding rates and interrow mowing suppressed weeds and improved yields, while electrical zapping reduced weed seed production. No-till soybeans did not respond to N fertilizer and gave the best net returns when sown at ~530,000 seeds/ha (~140% of standard rate) with no applied N.

Summer cash crops emerged well through winter cover crop residues and sometimes gave yields similar to the tilled controls. Soybean and corn tolerated roller-crimping up to five and three weeks after planting, respectively. No-till corn yielded best after hairy vetch or vetch + oats cover crops. Interrow mowing improved corn yields in roller-crimped winter covers and living mulch systems with red clover, alfalfa, or sweet clover.

Some winter cash crops emerged poorly through summer cover crop residues. However, winter wheat gave full yield when planted no-till into some summer cover crops and tolerated mulching rates (6,000-9,000 kg/ha) that reduced weed biomass by half.