Larry Haren

Larry Haren farms near Webster City in Hamilton County. Over the past 15 years, Haren has applied several conservation practices to his operation including: no-till, cover crops, bioreactor, a soil retention pond, grassed waterways and restoration of oxbows.

Haren began using cover crops in 2012 and has become particularly fond of planting a cereal rye cover crop before soybeans.

“As Forrest Gump would say, soybeans and rye go together like peas and carrots,” Haren commented during a field day at his farm in June of 2017. “For some reason, those two get along very well - your soybeans will be happier than they’ve ever been.”

For Haren, adding cover crops to his operation is about more than what appears on the surface of the soil. The changes to soil chemistry and the added root structure are a few of the benefits that draw him to using cover crops.

“Having [the water] go through anything first is better than it going directly to the creek,” Haren commented on the addition of a bioreactor and soil retention pond to his farm. He aims to address both nitrate and phosphorus water quality concerns with the practices that he’s added to his farming operation.

Haren is featured on our Iowa Learning Farms how-to video series, “Cover Crops: Farmer Perspectives.” The video provides answers to common questions such as why they grow cover crops, how to get started and common management considerations in a system that includes cover crops. Haren offers his expertise on growing cover crops for seed in the video.

Contact Information

Larry Haren
1387 Kendall Young Rd
Webster City, IA 50595
515-835-1619