Alley Cropping Catching On

Alley Cropping Catching On Jason Mauck believes alley cropping may lower input costs, boost soil health, and increase profit per acre. He promotes “farming weird,” which involves alternating strips of corn with strips or alleys of cover crops. Over the past decade, he’s experimented with various practices, including relay cropping, in which he plants soybeans into winter wheat and harvests both crops. While relay cropping is more established, he sees alley cropping offering unique benefits. “Alley cropping lets me integrate cover crops without fighting the cash crop,” says Mauck. “I’m looking at things that will grow over the winter, like clover, and build nitrogen while leaving lanes for planting corn.” Mauck has tested various alley widths, crop mixes and planting systems. This year, he frost-seeded clover in February and plans to plant strips of corn in April. Previously, he planted four 30-in. rows of corn for a 90-in. corn strip, with a 150-in. alley planted to forage sorghum.  In 2025, he planted 60-in. corridors of corn with 100-in. alleys. He’s found that anything wider than 60 in. appears to decrease corn yields. Anything narrower reduces the vigor and value of what can be grown in between. He maintains that the alleys between the corn corridors are valuable. “I want to get soils to the next level by growing more carbon through cover crop root exudates,” says Mauck. “We can build the soil by focusing on water-exchangeable carbon. I may lose 10% of yield compared to conventional corn, but reduce inputs to make up the difference.” He highlights increased ear placement on edge rows due to greater light exposure as a way to secure yield. Last fall, he harvested 454 bushels of corn per acre from those corn corridor acres. When including the alleys, the average was 227 bushels per acre. “The question isn’t how to make it on 90% yield, but how to reduce production costs of the corn and create value with the space in between the corn corridors,” says Mauck. “The alleys let me straddle the corn corridors instead of driving on them and plant in narrower rows at increased density. That expedites corn canopy by 15 to 20 days, reducing herbicide needs.” Other benefits include the ability to harvest alleys for forage multiple times during a growing season. With a large hog operation on his farm, the alleys also allow him to apply manure in-season with each forage harvest. If a farm has cattle, he notes that the alleys can be grazed after corn harvest. Mauck experiments with alley cropping on less than 10 acres. However, he’s relay cropping about 400 acres of winter wheat and soybeans. The soybeans will be planted into the green wheat this spring, and when the wheat is harvested, the soybeans will take off. “The goal is to reduce risks with soybean production and to be able to plant as early as possible, using the wheat to dry out the soil and warm it,” says Mauck. “The result is harvesting a cereal crop that you didn’t invest much in and add margin to soybean yields with less inputs for weed control.” Mauck frequently posts on social media, especially on Facebook, X and LinkedIn. Learn more about his alley cropping and relay cropping there. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mauck Farms, 5101 800 N, Gaston, Ind. 47342 (ph 765-215-4528; https://www.facebook.com/jason.mauck.5).

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