Have you noticed green crop fields after harvest or before planting? Those are cover crops, a conservation practice that involves seeding plants that cover the ground during the months of the year a cash crop is not growing. Speaking of growing, cover crops is growing as a conservation practice in Iowa, with the number of acres seeded to cover crops increasing each year. To see how cover crops and other practices are increasing in the state and subwatersheds, check out the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy Dashboards. Cover crops provide multiple benefits including preventing erosion, improving water quality, building healthy soils, and suppressing weed growth. Here you will find resources to get started or learn more about cover crops.
Getting Started With Cover Crops
For those who are new to using cover crops, the following resources can help develop a plan to incorporate cover crops into your cash cropping system effectively. When starting with cover crops, it is important to have a goal you would like to achieve with cover crops, and start small. For first time cover croppers, Midwest Cover Crops Council has developed four cover crop recipes for each of the common row crop rotations in Iowa that outline a beginner friendly management scenario.
- Cover Crop Recipe- Post Soybean, Going to Corn: Use Oats
- Cover Crop Recipe- Post Corn, Going to Soybean: Use Cereal Rye
- Cover Crop Recipe- Post Corn Silage, Going to Soybean: Use Cereal Rye
- Cover Crop Recipe- Post Corn Silage, Going to Corn: Use Cereal Rye
Cereal rye and oats are the recommended cover crops in the beginner recipes from Midwest Cover Crops Council. However there are many more possible cover crop species that can potentially be seeded. Midwest Cover Crops Council's Cover Crop Decision Tool is a useful tool for those wanting to explore cover crop species. It helps provide county specific seeding dates, ratings of cover crops to match your goals, and detailed state specific management information.
Economics of Cover Crops
Cover crop implementation does come with a cost for seed, application, and termination. Cover crop benefits can help offest these costs, including reducing herbicide applications and providing grazing for livestock. To better understand the potential costs and benefits of cover crops ISU Extension and Outreach Ag Decision Maker's Economics of Cover Crops decision tool can help compare different cover cropping scenarios.
Cost share oppurtunities are available to help offset the cost of cover crops for new and returning cover crop users. Multiple sources of funding is available in Iowa from federal, state, and private sources. For a comprehensive comparison of cost share programs visit the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance's Cost Share Comparison site. Carbon markets are another oppurtunity to receive payments for implementing cover crops and other conservation practices. ISU Extension and Outreach has compiled information on 18 carbon market programs that can be found in the "How to Grow and Sell Carbon Credits in US Agriculture" publication.
Other Cover Crop Resources
- Iowa Learning Farms has a large library of cover crop related resources, including their always growling library of recorded webinars.
- Articles and resources from the ISU Extension and Outreach Crops Team related to cover crop management can be found on the ISU Integrated Crop Management Cover Crops webpage.
- Practical Farmers of Iowa is a great source for cover crop related research, information, and have their own cost share program.
- SARE's book "Managing Cover Crops Profitably" can be downloaded for free or ordered as a physical book and provides in depth information on utilizing cover crops accross the United States.
- Midwest Cover Crops Council publishes the "Cover Crops Field Guide 3rd Edition" which can be purchased from the Purdue Extension Store.