Enhancing Crop Diversity: Steve and Becky Camp Video

Steve and Nate Riggers use direct seeding and crop diversity to improve soil health and farm resilience.

This video features Steve and Nate Riggers of Riggers Clearwater Farms near Nezperce and Craigmont, Idaho. The brothers describe how direct seeding has reduced erosion, improved soil health, increased efficiency, and given them confidence to diversify their dryland crop rotations. Along with red and white spring and winter wheat, they grow spring peas, canola, lentils, alfalfa, malting and food barley, turfgrass seed, reclamation grasses, camelina, and buckwheat. The video emphasizes that keeping land out of winter wheat for multiple years helps break disease and grassy weed cycles, improving yields across the rotation. It also covers the added management complexity of growing many crops, including seed ordering, crop protection, equipment needs, custom hiring, agronomist support, and herbicide carryover risk.

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Authors

Kantor, S., Yorgey, G., Painter, K., Bernacchi, L., and Davis, H.

Related Products

Related Project

Year Published

2016

Area of Focus

Agricultural Practices

Topics

Crops, Production Systems, and Soils & Fertility

Collaborators

Funding Source