Dave Brandt pays close attention to the soils on his central Ohio farm in Carroll. He often retrieves the shovel he carries in the back of his Polaris utility vehicle to pull a quick inspection on what he calls “the livestock underground.”

It’s that microbial activity he loves to see building up by using a no-till and cover crop system. Dave is often the go-to guy and guest speaker at functions regarding soil health. With the land being the base of agriculture, it’s certainly fitting that Dave and his wife, Kendra, were recently named 2016 Ohio Master Farmers.

ALL ABOUT SOIL: Kendra and Dave Brandt are 2016 Ohio Master Farmers. They use no-till and cover crops to improve soil health.

As a young man in high school, Dave helped his grandfather, Earl Cooper, on the farm, milking 24 cows, tending hogs and growing potatoes. He had plans to expand the farm after graduation, but Uncle Sam stepped in, put him in the Marines and sent him to Vietnam for 28 months — but not before he married his wife of now 50 years.

He returned to farm about 600 acres with family until his father was killed in a tractor accident. The farm was sold, and the assets were divided, but Dave’s will to farm was not squashed. He and Kendra became tenant farmers on 640 acres and more than doubled the initial livestock on the farm to 200 cows and 200 sows.

“We did that for 17 years before liquidating everything and buying my grandfather’s 80 acres in 1971,” says Dave, who began putting the farm into no-till.

While acquiring more land and rental ground, he worked as a soil and water technician for Fairfield County, teaching farmers no-till practices. “But after four years of no-till, we saw yields decline,” Dave says. “We didn’t have equipment to go back into tillage, so we had to find a way to maintain yields without tillage.”

In 1978, Dave began using monoculture cover crops. For over 20 years, he stuck to single-species cover crops, planting rye, and if fields were going to corn, using hairy vetch or winter peas. He says soil health improved steadily every year.

Multiplying covers
In 1998, Dave incorporated dual species of cover crops and then went even further into big blends — even 10-way blends. The farm is also intercropping with the planter and a high-boy seeder.

Soil tests are done yearly to evaluate how the cover crops are working. “It’s a learning curve.  But you don’t want cover crops that flower, as the nutrients from the soil are used for reproduction. I talk about our failures and learn from what worked, but also what didn’t. We do a lot of research that is documented daily.”

Time spent on equipment is now diverted to walking fields and looking at soil. “The change has been from using tractors and equipment to using the brain and eyes,” Dave says.

The return is there. He says it’s common to see a 6- to 8-bushel yield bump with rye going into soybeans. “And it could lower herbicide costs because rye suppresses weeds; it has reduced ours by about 50%.”

Using legumes with corn fixes nitrogen, he adds, reducing N fertilizer costs the first year, with lower potassium and phosphorus costs in three to five years. “Cool-season legumes in March gave us 50 pounds of nitrogen for corn,” he adds.

With winter peas and radishes, he says he gets 200 pounds of nitrogen, 30 pounds of phosphorus and 250 pounds of potash.

When the Brandts first bought the farm, organic matter was at 0.5%; today it is at 8%.

Cover crops have also eliminated the need for fungicides and insecticides on the farm. “Brassicas are used to capture nutrients, but they also give off a sulfur odor that fumigates soil in the fall and kills soybean cyst nematode,” he explains.

Diversification adds value
The Brandts harvest more than corn and soybeans. With a neighbor, they have about 6 acres of pumpkins. At one time they also had 5 acres for produce. “We raised everything from A to Z,” Dave says.

“It’s a little smaller now, but with grandson Matt and daughter-in-law Ann [who is a Master Gardener] having an interest, the garden may be growing,” says Kendra, who manages the project and markets the produce at farmers markets. “We are looking to add honeybees.”

The idea to grow fresh produce for direct market stemmed out of necessity. “About 20 years ago we were losing ground to development. It changed our  mindset; we needed to be more than corn and beans,” Dave explains.

With cost share through the Environ-mental Quality Incentives Program, the farm has two 24-by-45-foot hoophouses. “We can bring things to market three weeks earlier in the spring and about five weeks later in the fall,” Dave says.

Conservation is also top of mind for the Brandts. They use buffer strips, tile drainage and waterways. A containment facility was also built. The farm hosts Natural Resources Conservation Service training schools for new employees and is the site of the Fairfield County Soil and Water Conservation District annual meeting.

Randall Reeder, a retired Extension ag engineer at Ohio State University, nominated Dave for the award. He noted that Dave’s highest service to agriculture has been with the Ohio No-till Council by hosting several no-till field days.

“I am always eager to share and show how to improve soil health and profitability,” Dave says.

Looking forward, Dave says his son, Jay, who is a senior chemist at Sherwin Williams, wants to come back to the farm. 

Meet the Master Farmers:
Jan and Cindy Layman

Kendra and Dave Brandt