By Darren Hefty

Last year at the Ag PhD Field Day, I was blown away by how much attention our cover crop area received.  There were tons of people in there all day asking questions, looking at a wide variety of cover crops, and even digging them up to see what kind of root system was underneath.  I guess it doesn’t surprise me considering the results of a national survey Case IH completed less than two years ago about new practices farmers were thinking about beginning on their farms.  The number one answer was cover crops.  So why all the buzz?  And should this be a tactic you employ on your farm?

I wrote a newsletter article about this same topic last summer.  This summer, it’s a little closer to home for me because we have some acres right now where water is sitting, and the crops that were there are gone.  What will we do with those acres for the rest of the summer?  Our neighbors to the north and to the east had a similar scenario last year, and the results of their decisions have now played out.  Here are a couple examples of what cover crops can do in prevent plant or flooded-out fields.

In the Red River Valley along the North Dakota/Minnesota state line, there were acres that went unplanted last year.  A number of the farmers we work with in that area have commented about their acres that had cover crops last year versus the acres they left unplanted.  This spring, they were able to get in and plant the fields where cover crops were last year much sooner than the fields that were left black.

There were also a large amount of fields that went prevent plant in southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa.  In those areas, we’ve heard comments about how much healthier this spring’s crop was on acres that had a cover crop planted last year.  We’ll see how this translates into yield in the fall, but getting a better early start can’t hurt.

There are many benefits to cover crops such as:

  • Moisture Control – Removing excess moisture or preserving moisture you have
  • Reduce Soil Erosion – Both from wind and rain
  • Maintain and Improve Soil Microbial Life
  • Improve Nutrient Availability
  • Break Up Compaction
  • Potential Forage Source

If you had trouble getting the crop in this year; if you have a wheat crop coming off and don’t plan to double crop the field; or if you get some bad weather that wipes out a crop, consider planting a cover crop this summer on your farm.  Past experience (and some common sense) says that it will be a good experience for you and likely a profitable one, as well.  For $15 to $25 per acre, cover crops can be very beneficial as long as they have at least 45 to 60 days to grow.  For more info on cover crop benefits and options, check out our website at:
http://agphd.com/resources/cover-crops-and-their-uses/