Winter camelina is a winter-hardy brassica that is gaining traction in the Midwest as a cover crop ahead of corn or as an oilseed relay crop. Central Iowa farmer Mark Oehlerking recently used glyphosate to terminate his first ever winter camelina cover crop the second week of May, shortly after planting corn into it.
Why camelina? For Mark, camelina as a cover crop draws his interest as potential erosion control and because it has a lower risk of N tie-up compared to cereal rye. Happy with his first trial, he found that the camelina is easy to plant into and easy to terminate. It is important to note, however, that camelina produces less biomass than rye and breaks down more quickly; it doesn’t offer much for weed suppression or grazing in fall or spring.
