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THE CROPS LAB | MANHATTAN, KANSAS

Cultivating Resilience in Our Production Systems

What is Relay Intercropping?

Relay intercropping in wheat-based systems is a realistic, straightforward target for applied agronomic research with relevance to crop production, ecology, and economics. What better place than Kansas, the wheat state?

Intercropping is a crop management practice that includes sowing seeds into a standing crop. Benefits of intercropping are diverse, but typically include the highest benefit related to weed control, soil health, and erosion control, as the cover crop has time to establish before the standing crop is harvested and removed from the field – thereby avoiding a period of time without canopy or living roots (Peterson et al., 2019). Relay intercropping is a specialized approach to intercropping, as multiple crops (usually a cool season species and a warm season species) are sown with the intent to harvest both of them. This system produces two crops in semi-sequential fashion, establishing a second crop in interrow spaces before the first crop is harvested. Rationale for this practice is focused on facilitating multiple crops in the same season for areas with shorter seasons, but also incorporating some benefits of intercropping as a component of regenerative agriculture practices in a more logistically feasible fashion (Gesch et al., 2023; Moore et al., 2019).

 

While these relay-style systems are relatively established in public knowledge, sparse data is available on best financial/agronomic management practices, including the relative benefit to established cropping systems in the Central Plains. The need is not to reinvent intercropping, but to dial in on what is preventing adoption, refine the system, educate agronomists and farmers about monoculture alternatives, and translate field research into tangible resources for farmers to implement on their own farms (Lamichhane et al., 2023).

 

Winter wheat, which requires a vernalization period, is planted in the fall and harvested in early summer of the following calendar year. The logistics of the wheat cycle complicate crop rotation and unfortunately lead to a barren period after harvest in June, providing opportunities for weed encroachment and soil erosion for the remainder of the summer. A common, intensified alternative to this fallow period is multiple (double) cropping. Double cropping is a sequential monoculture system (producing two crops) commonly adopted in areas with sufficient soil moisture following wheat harvest. Soybeans (or grain sorghum) are planted immediately after the wheat is harvested, which allows for the production of short-season soybeans/sorghum. These double-crops do not have the yield potential of single-crops planted earlier in the season, as is the typical practice. Later planting dates of double-crops has been demonstrated as a yield-limiting factor in Kansas, especially for soybeans (Santos Hansel et al., 2019). This yield gap could potentially be alleviated by planting the second crop earlier, before wheat is harvested. Although relay intercropping is more commonly implemented in upper Midwestern regions with shorter growing seasons and more reliable precipitation, such practices showed promise in Kansas several years ago (Duncan et al., 1990; Duncan & Schapaugh, 1997). Regardless of this fact, these regeneratively-focused practices have not been implemented or refined, even 35 years later. Translational research is desperately needed in the intercropping space, specifically with relay intercropping, as a logistically feasible option for Kansas farmers.

Overarching questions:

1. Crop Yields

How does the implementation of intercropping impact individual crop yields? What about total productivity of the land area?

How can we manage multiple crops to maximize productivity on a set land area?

2. Pest Management

How do alternative row arrangements and altered canopy dynamics impact the weed populations and competitiveness in these fields?

How can management practices reduce the need or reliance on herbicides?

3. Resource Use

How does an alternative arrangement and production timeline impact the use of water, nutrients, and light?

 

Can certain plants (ex: legumes) enhance the circular economy of an intercropped system? Does contrasting root morphology improve the utilization of available water?

4. Risk Reduction

Does a multi-crop system enhance or reduce risk for farmers? Which risks are alleviated? Which risks are enhanced?

 

How can the economics of such a system be taken into account? What barriers limit implementation? Are these barriers worth overcoming?

Project components in-progress:

1. Field Studies

This project will include multiple field studies of various crop combinations and management practices such as planting date, row spacing, row orientation, etc.

Studies are currently being designed and implemented in the eastern part of the state.

2. Decision Tool Development

Research is fun, but it needs to be actionable. Developing a tool to aid farmers in assessing the utility of relay cropping on their operation will be a component of this project.

©2025 by Rachel L. Veenstra Cott, Ph.D.

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