The wind gently pushes a sea of rye grass in various directions as it blows across a bottomland field along the Holston River. The winter rye grass is planted in fall in preparation for summer growing season to create a firm root soil structure. Soon the rye will be sprayed to kill it and corn will be planted. This is called sod-based no tillage planting and it helps conserve energy in the planting cycle, conserve soil moisture for growing, greatly minimizes soil erosion, and doubles crop yield over traditional tilled planting.
