Sustainable Ag: Cover Crops

 As fall arrives, many farmers are busy in the field harvesting. The main thought may be to get the crop out of the field, but many farmers also have conservation on their mind. Since they are busy taking crops out of the field, the main protectors of our soil are being taken away. This is why many farmers are planting cover crops. 

 Although some may know what cover crops are, they may not know how these crops can benefit soil health and conservation. Cover crops are used for two main reasons, to control erosion and add spring forage. There are also many more benefits to cover crops. A cover crop is a plant that is used to slow erosion, improve water availability, build soil health, kill weeds, help control diseases and pests.

Cover crops help decrease the amount of erosion during thunderstorms, or when the snow is melting. They do this by slowing the speed of the running water, and therefore slowing the speed of the soil particles within the water. Raising cover crops helps the soil adapt when there is inconsistent drought, floods, or rainfall. Using cover crops is also a good way to help depleted soils recover, while promoting the next crops growth. 

Cover crops can help the soil in many ways, some which you can easily see, and some which you have to look for. We can see, with specialized equipment, that cover crops help stabilize the soils fertility by catching escaping nutrients with their roots. Using their roots, cover crops can also unlock certain nutrients in the soil in order to transform them into more readily available forms. Cover crops can be any crop grown in between cash crops, including grasses, legumes, and small grains. Non-legumes, such as rye and oats, are good at scrounging up nutrients, stopping weeds, and creating large amounts of organic matter for the soil. They can help  slow permeability, stop compaction, improve the soil's structure, add organic material, and incorporate the nutrients into the soils. The carbon left after the non-legume roots decompose, added with root pathways and increased pore space, helps improve the water holding capacity of the soil. Legumes, such as sweet clover or field peas, fix atmospheric Nitrogen, help the beneficial bugs, and provide the soil organic matter. Cocktails or mixtures of non legumes normally make more biomass and nitrogen, and are more hardy in the winter. Cover crops can also be used for livestock grazing, forage, and seed use.

The benefits of cover crops also can influence how the next crop grows. The benefits will vary from place to place, but there are always two or more benefits for any given crop. Some of the many benefits are lower fertilizer costs, reduction of herbicide and pesticide usage per acre, better yields, less soil erosion, moisture conservation, better water quality, and the protection of people's health through better food quality. Legumes are good at holding and making nitrogen for future crops, but are not good at recovering stray nitrogen. Cover crops can also influence the yield of the next crop significantly. Results have shown cover crop usage to increase corn yields by 9.6% and soybean yields by 11.6%. While cover crops help crops grow, many people don’t understand how. When a cover crop grows, it takes in nutrients. Then it normally dies or gets killed. While they decompose, cover crops act like “green manure”, because they will release the nutrients back into the soil for the plant to use. Legumes release more nitrogen than most other plants, but young grass can achieve the same effect. Although many may not realize it, cover crops are good, but some see it  as extra work for farmers.