RRC farm manager reports strong yields, expanded cover crops and new precision spraying

Mike Glover, introduced to the board as the Resource Recovery Center farm manager, told the Muskegon County Board of Public Works on Feb. 12 that the farm’s 2025 growing season recovered from early weather setbacks to produce above-average yields and expand conservation practices.

"Growing season went really well for us despite the weather patterns early on," Glover said, describing an unusual late-April/May cold stretch and an outbreak of Rhizoctonia that staff controlled with targeted fungicide applications. He said the farm still averaged about 192 bushels of corn per acre and roughly 18 tons of alfalfa per acre over four cuttings.

Glover provided acreage figures and operational context in response to commissioners’ questions: the farm is heavy on corn — roughly 1,300 acres — with about 500 acres of soybeans and the remainder in alfalfa, for an approximate total of 2,200 acres in production. He said two irrigation pivots were out of service for about a week to 10 days early in the season after underground electrical feeds failed; crews repaired the lines and replaced affected equipment.

The farm is experimenting with precision-spray technology through a partnership with John Muir, Glover said, and reported a roughly 10% reduction in post-emergent herbicide applications compared with prior practices. "When you factor in all the data we gathered with utilizing that system, we'll get multilayer data maps for every field," he said, describing weed-pressure mapping that helps target scouting and applications.

Glover also summarized seed-selection criteria used on test plots (maturity group, disease resistance, and performance) and described plans to expand cover-crop seeding and explore drone and interseed applicators to increase on-farm interseeding of cover crops.

Board members praised the science behind the operations and asked for additional operational details; Glover described hedging and basis-contract approaches used to manage grain-price risk and said the farm uses a combination of Chicago Board of Trade instruments and local basis contracts for soybeans. He said yield performance for some crops exceeded the previous year — corn averaged about four bushels more per acre than the previous season — and that triticale and other short-season crops were impacted where irrigation delays coincided with critical growth windows.

The discussion concluded with board members thanking Glover and noting the presentation would be included in the meeting packet.