 I'm Bob Muth, owner, manager at Muth Farms, our farms in Williamstown, New Jersey. We farm 80 acres here, 60 acres we own, and 20 acres we continue to rent on a year-to-year basis. Our main crops are tomatoes, all different types, on steaks, also red bell pepper. We also have ground that's certified organic. We grow about 20 different crops in a limited fashion for an organic CSA. We market through a combination of wholesale and retail. We grow cover crops because it's the essence of soil husbandry and sustainable ag, and that's really our main crux here. The idea is to improve the ground so that when I'm ready to retire, this farm can be handed over to the third generation and be in great shape. Our rotation strategy is one year in high-value vegetables or small fruit. In our case it's strawberries, and then it's going to be followed by three, sometimes four years where the ground's rotated out. So in effect, we're only farming about 20% each year of our total 80 acres. I implemented this rotation back in 1987, and I know at that time some farmers thought it was crazy to be resting that much ground in an area where there's high land values. But over the years I realized some real benefits. We see pest and disease pressure remain in manageable levels. The soil fertility is going way up, and stuff grows a lot better simply by prepping that ground in between those high-value crops. I think it's important to note that that 80% that's setting fallow is not just laying out there idly growing weeds. It's being rested by plant or design, and it's all part of the total farm management picture. We're doing that to improve soil organic matter level, and to put the ground or make the ground in a much better shape so it's easier to grow bigger and better crops which eat the passing year. For us, when a vegetable crop comes out or a small fruit crop, I'm immediately thinking three, four, five years down the road, and what I try to do is implement that rotation so that ground will be in much better condition. It starts by, when the crop is finished, simply leaf mulching. We spread municipal leaves up to six inches deep. That's the maximum amount you can spread in New Jersey by law. Those leaves are worked in the following year. We then plant either hay or suedex. The hay or suedex will stay in for two to three years. We then plow that out, and we go back into rye or rye vetch, and then back into vegetables once again. So at the end of that time, literally that ground is super charged. It's ready to go. Hay is a significant part of our rotation. We grow both Timothy and orchard grass on the place. I prefer orchard grass because it's a little more drought tolerant. One of the advantages that I see is good not putting a plow on the ground for three years. You can really enhance your soil structure through the rooting action of that hay crop. You'll never get rich growing hay, but there is a significant horse population in the area now. These are pleasure horses. And there's a waiting market for good high quality hay, which we can provide. It's a source of income for you when that ground is being rotated out. This is suedex. This is our main summer cover crop. We like it a lot because it helps alleviate soil compaction. You can also use it for nematode and disease suppression. Normally, we like to plant suedex around Memorial Day. This year, with the wet weather, we got significantly delayed. We were planting in June and into July. I spread our plant mine with a vicon seeder, sling it out at around 25 pounds of the acre, and then lightly disc it in. This is the age and stage where we like to flail it when it's about head high or a little bit above. This will be about four tons of dry matter per acre. Some people tell me that planting suedex can create a significant weed problem. That's not a problem as long as you mow it before it shoots those seed heads. That's why we like to see it mowed when it's about a head high and not much bigger than that. Another advantage of suedex that I've seen over the years is good weed suppression. If you grow this for a couple of years, you can significantly reduce your weed population. There is no light in there for those weeds to get established and grow. Hey, this is municipal leaves from Monroe Township or hometown. Leaves were banned from the landfills in New Jersey back in 1987 because they were using up valuable landfill space. And we hooked up with the town at that time and started to take them. Initially, there were some serious trash problems, but over the years, the town worked that out so it's a very clean product. A lot of people have said that I should be charging some significant tipping fees for these, but I've never felt that way. We've taken them for free all these years. It guarantees that I get a good supply every year. The bulk of the township's leaves come in November and December and early January. I prefer to spread when the ground is frozen because I get virtually no soil compaction at that time. For me, that's December and January. That's when it's a very light workload then and I can work on these things all day uninterrupted. We spread these anywhere from three to six inches deep. We use a New Holland manure spreader and it's anywhere from three to four passes going at a slow rate with the spreader wide open. When I started with these, I had what I would call a lot of wives tales. People telling me how it would ruin the ground, destroy your pH, you'd need tons of lime to counteract the acidity and it didn't work out that way at all. I always had a good soil testing program and I saw that two or three years after we had applied leaves nutrient levels going up significantly, especially miners and the pHs were actually starting to climb when I was expecting them to go the other way. They've been of God's hand for us. Normally we like to flail mow very low to the ground. However, there's any residences in the area, houses nearby, we always mow higher and spread into a stubble and that way we don't have leaves blowing off the field and creating angry neighbors. This ground was just in vegetable crops and it won't be back in the vegetable crops for another four years or so. We put leaves on the front part of the rotation because it gives them ample time to break down so that they won't create problems later with tying up nitrogen and clogging up your press pan and mulch layer equipment. There's your leaf application though right there. That's all you got left after four years. One thing I've seen over the years, if you can take leaf mulching and link it with a good cover cropping system, you can really help yourself. Over the years, since we started this, we've slashed our fertilizer probably by 60 to 70% or more. There's no need to apply it. It's already here.