New Markets Sought For Cereal Rye

New Markets Sought For Cereal Rye Gary Zimmer wants to create demand for cereal rye The Wisconsin soil health advocate expects to produce about 30 000 bushels of rye this year and he’s building markets for it “We need more cash crops and what else can you plant as late as rye in our northern states?” asks Zimmer “You can drill it in after corn harvest as late as December and combine it by mid or late June ” An increasing number of farmers plant rye as a cover crop in the fall only to terminate it in the spring either before or after planting corn or soybeans in the field Zimmer suggests a different approach letting it mature and selling the grain as a cash crop The fly in the ointment at this point is the limited demand for rye grain other than for sale as a cover crop Zimmer hopes to change that The co-owner of Otter Creek Organic Farm Zimmer is also the vice president of Rye Revival a non-profit dedicated to promoting rye “We are promoting it as a food crop for bakers brewers and distillers and as animal feed for poultry and livestock producers ” says Zimmer He points to Denmark where antibiotics are not allowed in hog rations Instead they use rye for 80 percent of the hog ration “Their need for antibiotics seems to have gone away ” says Zimmer “We’re also looking at it to replace 10 to 15 percent of the feed ration for chickens ” Distillers are the largest market for rye at this point but most rye has been imported from Russia and Ukraine Zimmer isn’t waiting around for buyers of his rye to appear He is building a small-scale processing plant in a former cheese factory at the edge of his farm It will include cleaning separation for quality and milling His goal is to be able to process the rye mill it and sell it by the tote “We hope to have it ready to go for our new crop ” says Zimmer “We planted about 600 acres of rye this past fall at about 70 lbs per acre ” Most commercial-minded rye producers would plant at a 90-lb rate However Zimmer has a dual purpose in mind The first week of March he frost-seeded a four-way clover mix at about 15 lbs per acre His lighter rye seeding rate reduces the likelihood that the rye will lodge or shade out the clover When he harvests in late June he will flail-mow the straw and the knee-high clover Later in the summer he will spread manure and compost on the clover flail mowing it again in late fall Spring of 2023 he will plow the clover and straw residue under and plant organic corn Long term Zimmer’s goal is to show other farmers how they can integrate a rye cash crop into their operations “We don’t want to build a huge manufacturing plant ” says Zimmer “We want to distribute the information so farmers can build their own ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Gary Zimmer 3366 Cty Rd C  Avoca Wis 53506 ph 608-269-6072; garyfzimmer@icloud com or Rye Revival www ryerevival org; www facebook com/ryerevival org

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