Ryegrass Roots

I know you’ve heard it a hundred times from me, but the ryegrass roots are truly incredible! This week I found some research done on the mass of roots produced each year.  Ryegrass produces around 4,000 pounds of roots per acre each growing season.  This is more than double normal grass roots.  Combine this with the corn that we have growing on the fields for 90 days that also produces 4,000 pounds of roots and we estimate our crop fields to produce a whopping 8,000 pounds of roots per acre each year.  Roots are the key to building organic matter.  Another study analyzed a field where they plowed under the cover crop plant in the spring and then compared the organic matter that was still in the soil 1 year later. Only 13% of the plant portion was still around and 50% of the root organic matter was still in the soil.  Also our roots grow deep so they deposit this organic matter deeper into the soil. 

Doing this research to provide supporting documentation for our USDA grant application to help us spread the practices that build organic matter and thus sequester carbon.  Any supporting emails from our customers stating how important this is to your decision to buy meat from Fischer Farms would be great!