An info graphic to strike up conversations

Familiar look, new content: In the past four years, our Business Unit Cereals has created an info graphic packed full of exciting facts about rye (2017), then wheat (2018) and lastly barley (2019). “Our experience with them has been good,” says Project Manager Christiane von der Ohe. And so now it was the turn of catch crops.

All the info graphics have a common objective: “To give a general introduction to the crops – and to stimulate dialogue that delves into greater detail,” says Christiane von der Ohe. “Of course, farmers usually know how and why catch crops are grown. But we wanted to explain that to people who don’t deal with them in their everyday work.” Field service employees took the graphic along to show trainees on a farm, for example. “That’s like a training overview for them.” And the graphics also offer farmers small and fine details they were not aware of.

Eleven reasons for catch crops

There are varying assessments of the importance of catch crops. That is shown by a survey conducted by KWS’ market research team in 2019, in which farmers were asked to explain why they grew them. Half of them named their advantages in crop rotation: “The fact, for example, that corn grows better afterwards,” says Christiane von der Ohe. The other half simply stated that they grew catch crops to meet political requirements.

And that is right. But as the info graphic shows, there are eleven other good reasons, both while there are plant stands in the summer or winter, or later when the catch crops remain in the fields as green manure or – to a lesser percentage – are used as feed or in biogas plants.

Crop rotation is crucial

Farmers face the task of selecting the right catch crops as part of crop rotation and also the combination – catch crop mixtures are used almost exclusively for various (good) reasons. “They need to know: What do I grow afterwards and what catch crops make sense beforehand?” explains Markus Molthan, the Product Manager responsible for our catch crops. One tactic is to use catch crops to reduce the amount of plant pests before growing sugarbeet. Moreover, it is important not to grow catch crops that abet similar diseases and pests that challenge the subsequent crop. Flowering catch crops, such as sunflowers, are needed in the summer to attract beneficial organisms like insect pollinators.

Some of the catch crops in KWS’ portfolio have been bred in-house, while others are bought in: “Our range of species is perhaps larger than many people think. Our breeding activities focus on the two cruciferous plant species of white mustard and oilseed radish, but we also work on phacelia and bristle oats. From the past six decades of catch crop breeding at KWS, we now have varieties for winter turnip rape, gold of pleasure, brown mustard, Tartary buckwheat and Westerwold ryegrass. And: We also borrow from KWS’ other breeding programs where we can,” says Markus Molthan. “We test our catch crop mixtures and the individual species in the field as the basis for advising our customers. We have adopted a cross-Business Unit approach.” That gives farmers the advantage of having a one-stop shop for expert consulting and top-class varieties for the entire crop rotation.