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Researchers have found that cover crops are very effective at protecting water quality. Here, cover crops are growing in fields along the Chesapeake Bay. Photo by Edwin Remsberg The real-world effect of farm activities extends well beyond the farm gate. Collectively, the activities of farming operations affect not only regional ecosystems but also rural communities and […]

Potential Impact of Cover Crops on Land Rentals and Tenancy Efforts to identify how cover crops influence land values and rents are in their early stages. However, it is easy to imagine that because cover crops improve soil health, which in turn improves field productivity, they could in time raise land values. This could benefit both the farmer and the landowner. For the farmer […]

Most crop farmers across the United States are eligible for cover crop incentive payments through the NRCS. In recent years, thousands of farmers have received payments in support of cover crops through the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Payment (EQIP) program. These payments are intended to help farmers begin the process of cover cropping. They should not be looked at as a long-term subsidy, but […]

Cover crops are often an essential part of an organic farmer’s strategy to supply nutrients to their crops, particularly through nitrogen-fixing legumes. Some legumes, such as hairy vetch and Austrian winter peas, can supply over 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre if allowed to grow until they flower. However, for conventional farmers, it has normally been cheaper to obtain nitrogen from synthetic fertilizer than […]

One of the most dramatic examples of cover crop benefits occurred during the severe, widespread drought of 2012. On thousands of Midwestern and Western farms, crop growth suffered from rainfall levels that were far below normal. However, a pattern began to emerge when farmers found that corn or soybeans following cover crops were doing better than those in their conventional fields. This frequent observation was […]

Some of the earliest grain crop farmers to adopt cover crops in recent decades have been no-tillers. In fact, No-Till Farmer magazine reported that 83% percent of their no-till farmer readership used cover crops on at least some of their fields in 2017 [2]. However, a new trend has become apparent with the rapid expansion of cover crops, which is that a segment […]

With farmers planting more acres than ever before, the time window to get into and out of fields for planting, harvest and other operations is smaller than ever. Unfortunately, the sense of urgency to get over a lot of fields quickly can lead to situations where farmers are using large, heavy equipment on fields where moderate to high moisture leads to compaction. Once the […]

Among the several ways that cover crops can boost profits, grazing them is one of the most likely ways to provide a positive first-year return. Whether grazing cover crops pays back the first year depends on the amount of cover crop growth, the length of the grazing period and the costs for fencing and a water supply, if those are not already in […]

In the 2016–17 National Cover Crop Survey, 59% of farmers reported having herbicide-resistant weeds on some of their fields, and that percentage is expected to continue rising. Due to the rapid spread of herbicide-resistant marestail, Palmer amaranth and waterhemp, along with other herbicide-resistant weeds, farmers are having to spend more on herbicides while often getting worse results. In some situations, entire crop fields have been […]

Alabama farmer Annie Dee uses different cover crop mixes depending on her crop rotation and management goals. Reprinted with permission, Progressive Farmer, mid-February 2019 As outlined earlier, there are several different management situations where cover crops pay off faster than usual. Generally, these faster returns occur where farmers are either addressing a specific problem such as herbicide-resistant weeds […]