Penn State aerial seeded winter wheat on 100 acres of corn and soybeans about two miles northeast of the University Park campus. Pilot Rudy Vrbanic of Vrbanic Aerial Seeding, based in Indiana, Pa.—flying a specially designed 1966 Piper Pawnee aircraft— handled the job for the university. He has been doing aerial seeding for 27 years, with the same airplane built in Lock Haven. He also does aerial fertilization (especially top dressing of wheat) and gypsy moth caterpillar spraying.

Vrbanic is aware that his work is often viewed as entertainment by Pennsylvanians who usually don’t get to see aerial agricultural applications. “I am only making money when I am seeding, so every move—every turn—the plane makes has a purpose,” he says with a chuckle. “I realize some folks enjoy watching what they believe are low-level aerobatics, but it’s just part of the job.”

From an ecological point of view, cover crops are a no-brainer, according to Sjoerd Duiker, associate professor of soil management. The more farmers can keep living plant roots in the soils, he believes, the better. Cover crops fill a hole in the crop rotation.

“We try to remedy having bare soil from November to May,” he says. “Growing roots help to improve soil structure and stimulate microbial activity. So the soil improves and there is less erosion.”

Cover crops are especially needed, Duiker points out, on dairy farm fields, where farmers periodically apply liquid manure over the winter months. “It is much better to apply manure on living vegetation than on bare soil,” he says. “Cover crops actively take up nutrients, prevent nitrates and other nutrients from leeching into groundwater, and reduce the runoff of excess nutrients.”

Duiker would like to see more aerial seeding of cover crops in Pennsylvania. “It’s not done on a large scale here, and there are not many service providers around because there’s not a great demand,” he says. “Penn State is trying to set an ecological example in this case.”

—Jeff Mulhollem