Just watched the video CNC linked. None of those farmers planted while their cover crop was standing. All of them terminated the cover crop either before or during planting. One said he preferred waiting until the cover crop died. I realize they have slightly different goals, however, soil moisture retention was a key element - that's why they were rolling the cover crop down, to create a mat.
They were actually doing certain things as an alternative to just drilling into standing dry cereal grains. Their goals were soil moisture retention, soil temp decrease in hot weather, and nitrogen fixation from cover crop.
For a small plot, you could possibly lay down the standing vegetation with a drag on a 4 wheeler, which would be cheap and fast. Maybe even use a 4 wheeler sprayer and some type of light drag together. Then drill.
