Symposium A sustainable agriculture project at Chesapeake Farms: a six-year summary of weed management aspects, yield, and economic return

Abstract

Abstract A 6-yr project comparing four cash grain–farming systems relevant to the mid-Atlantic region of the United States was conducted from 1993 to 1999. A wide range of parameters was sampled including soil health, nutrient and agrichemical movement, economic viability, and insect and weed communities. The systems and their approaches to weed management were: continuous no-till corn without (System A1) or with (System A2) rye cover crop and preplanned herbicides based on expected weed infestations; System B was a 2-yr corn–soybean rotation with conventionally tilled corn and no-tillage soybean, with preplanned herbicides based on expected weed infestations; System C was a 2-yr rotation with no-till corn, conventionally tilled wheat, and no-till double-cropped soybean, using postemergence (POST) herbicides on the basis of field scouting; and System D was a 3-yr rotation of corn-soybean-winter wheat with rye and hairy vetch cover crops, using cultivation and reduced rates of POST herbicides based on fiel...