Posted on May, 23, 2025 at 12:04 am
Adding a small grain such as oats into a crop rotation can help break up weed and pest cycles by giving a break between corn and soybean crops. Curt Arens
Fields of corn and soybeans blanket the Midwest countryside. While these commodity crops dominate the landscape, a growing number of farmers are returning to a traditional practice: incorporating small grains into their rotation.
The shift might not match corn and soybean profits initially, but small grains deliver returns through improved soil health and other benefits.
“With small grains as a rotational partner, those rotational effects go beyond soil health. That is the opportunity cost,” says Jochum Wiersma, small grains Extension agronomist at the University of Minnesota. “If you plant a shorter-season, cool-season grass to your rotation, you have a recharge period then that could potentially be used for a cover crop, alfalfa or even warm-season grass for forage.
“In a way, you're double-cropping then, but if you simply do nothing, you have a down period where you have recharge for your soil moisture.”
By viewing crop rotation as a system rather than individual enterprises, farmers discover benefits that extend beyond market prices.
When designing the crop rotation, it is crucial to understand where small grains fit, and what each crop needs and gives back to the soil.
“Corn only needs a one-year break, but soybeans need longer breaks, especially if you start building up soilborne problems, including soybean cyst nematode,” Wiersma says. “Soybeans are happier if they have at least a two-year break, so if we widen the rotation for soybeans, what are the options? Small grains can fit in that.”
Jeff Steffen, a farmer in northeast Nebraska, has seen the benefits of utilizing small grains in his own operation. Right now, he has about one-third of his ground completely in oats, and the rest in corn and soybeans. His family’s operation has been farming small grains for more than 50 years.
“Your goal is to have at least a two-year break at some point between a crop,” Steffen says. “If you only have oats once in five years, in the other years you can stack the rotation like with corn on corn. For example, one rotation that works is soybeans, wheat, soybeans and then two years of corn. Even though there's only one year of small grains in that five-year rotation, there is a three-year break. So that's a combination that I'll tell some guys that are trying to break up pest cycles.”
Controlling weeds such as Palmer amaranth and breaking up cycles to prevent soybean cyst nematode are only a few examples of the benefits of small grains.
When looking to sell small grains, farmers might have to get creative if there is not a local elevator that will take the grain.
However, producers who have livestock might consider going back to feeding small grains in rations. When Steffen’s family raised hogs, they found that feeding barley was an affordable and nutritious feeding strategy.
“We could grow 80-bushel barley when we were growing 100-bushel corn in this climate,” he says. “And then that would be our feedstuff that got us through to fall. If you have animals to feed, then you can look into what small grain works in your area and go from there.”
Wiersma is a big advocate for more operations that raise livestock to consider incorporating small grains into rations. This will not only offer an alternative feed source, but also open a market for small grains.
“If you look at the literature, or if you go to Denmark or northern Germany, they routinely have a ration that's 50% to 100% rye. And they have the same gains,” Wiersma says. “They have slightly different setups as far as feeding, but they make winter rye work in their swine nutrition.”
One aspect that livestock feeders should be aware of when feeding rye is the presence of ergot and deoxynivalenol (DON) in the harvested grain. However, with modern hybrids and fungicides, these risks can be greatly reduced.
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Having cattle graze the small grain and feeding it to hogs are a couple ways that farmers can get past the barrier of not being able to traditionally market small grains. If you are looking to incorporate grains such as barley, wheat or rye, consider contacting your local brewer to see if they would be interested in purchasing a local grain to brew at their own facility.
“I know a producer that has been raising barley now for 10-plus years exclusively for a brewery in the town he grew up in,” Wiersma says.
While traditional markets might be limited, creative marketing combined with soil health benefits make small grains an attractive rotation option. The break from continuous corn and soybeans can provide significant advantages.
“Small grains have slowly disappeared over the landscape even in areas where dual cropping at one time was much more common,” Wiersma says. “People now favor just corn and soybeans, and there's a multitude of reasons for that.”
Wiersma points out that the biggest roadblocks for small grains are having an accessible market and price discovery. So, if producers are looking to add small grains, these two challenges must be addressed.
“Barley has all but disappeared from Minnesota. And part of that is because of the market risks,” Wiersma says.
According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, there has been a steady decline of oat and barley acres, while wheat acres planted has increased. Here is a breakdown:
Oats. Oats decreased from 2.39 million acres planted in the U.S. in 2022 to 2.3 million acres in 2024.
Barley. Acreage also decreased, with 3.1 million acres planted in 2022 compared to 2.37 million acres in 2024.
All wheat. Planted acres are up. In 2022, there were 47.3 million acres. including all wheat planted in the U.S,. and in 2024, planted acres were up slightly to 47.5 million acres.
Rye. Usually planted as a cover or forage crop or for grazing, rye acres planted in the U.S. in 2022 were at 2.17 million acres; and that grew to 2.2 million acres planted in 2024.
When considering adding small grains as another crop into the rotation, take the time to find a market and consider the economic and environmental impact that these crops can have on your farm.
Source: Farm Progress