Overview

Essentially, the roller/crimper is a drum or a cylinder with curved blades, which when operating, lays the cover crop over in one direction and crimps or crushes its stems. The combination of these two actions kills the cover and turns it into a thick, weed suppressing mulch in a single pass. You won’t need herbicides to provide 90 to 100 percent knockdown. Farmers can use the roller/crimper as part of an organic operation, or as part of a conventional one to reduce the use of herbicides and improve the bottom line.

As with any field operation on any farm, you need the right piece of equipment to accomplish the task effectively and efficiently. This is especially true in a cover crop system where every operation has an impact on the success of crop yield and quality. These ramifications are particularly evident in organic systems where every part of the system is closely interconnected to every other part. Organic farming needs to be considered as a holistic system.

Adopting organic no-till methods creates a dynamic change to this holistic system. It’s hard to make one change without affecting the whole farm management plan. As we discuss organic no-till, we need to be especially mindful of how it will impact every other part of the system. The impacts can be seen from an agronomic perspective through changes in weed species and location, from a soil’s perspective as you’ll see changes in a soil’s ability to retain water and support greater microbial diversity.

Credits: https://rodaleinstitute.org/our-work/organic-no-till/organic-no-till-roller-crimper/