They add organic matter, improve the soil’s texture and structure, improve the fertility, help prevent erosion and attract pollinating insects. Pest-fighting cover crop systems help minimize pesticide use, and as a result cut costs and reduce your chemical exposure. Although seeding and management of cover crop mixes or “cocktails” can become more complicated, planting them allows you to attain multiple objectives at once. The diversity is valuable for building microbial and physical soil function. Cover crops have a surprisingly wide array of benefits and no serious drawbacks. Winter cover crops help hold soil in place over the winter and provide ground cover. Cover crops maintain and improve soil fertility in a number of ways. An analysis in the SARE bulletin Cover Crop Economics reveals that in some situations cover crops can pay off in year one, such as when they are used for grazing or to manage herbicide-resistant weeds. The practice of growing specific crops just for fertilizing and building the soil dates back to the Roman Empire. Cover crops are used for a wide variety of reasons, from green manure to soil improvement to weed control. Cover crops play an essential role in improving soil health and are associated with numerous on-farm benefits, such as controlling erosion, improving water infiltration and managing nutrients. Here is a list of the utilities of cover crops. “Building Soils for Better Crops, Third Edition.” Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. Eight states more than doubled their cover crop acreage from 2012 to 2017. Cover crops serve a number of functions in the garden. Cover crops take very little labor while also adding organic material to your soil. University of Minnesota. Cover crop roots hold the soil in place to prevent erosion. Because each root of the cover crop creates pores in the soil, cover crops help allow water to filter deep into the ground. When planted as a fall cover crop, non-legumes consistently take up 30-50 pounds of nitrogen per acre. They provide habitat for soil life such as fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and critters like worms. After it is dry, the remaining organic matter is usually tilled into the soil. Cover crops should be viewed as a long-term investment in improved soil health and farm management. There are 4 types of cover crops. Check out our interactive infographic, What is Soil Health, to learn more about the relationships between on-farm practices, soil health benefits and the complex web of life within the soil. The Why Of Planting Cover Crops A fall cover crop is a must for a great garden, It not only replenishes minerals and stops erosion, but also loosens the soil and eliminates next year’s weeds. Cover crops contribute indirectly to overall soil fertility and health by catching nutrients before they can leach out of the soil profile or, in the case of legumes, by adding nitrogen to the soil. These types of crops are also used in landscaping to enhance the look of a property. “Summer Cover Crops.” North Carolina State University. A cover crop is a non-cash crop grown primarily for the purpose of ‘protecting or improving’ between periods of regular crop production. Do you want to add nitrogen to your soil, increase organic matter to improve soil health, reduce erosion, provide weed control, manage nutrients, and/or conserve soil moisture? Compared to pure stands of legumes or non-legumes, cocktails usually produce more overall biomass and nitrogen, tolerate adverse conditions, increase winter survival, provide ground cover, improve weed control, attract a wider range of beneficial insects and pollinators, and provide more options for use as forage. It’s any crop grown for the protection and enrichment of the soil. In the US, quite a bit of research has gone into using daikon radish as a fall cover crop. A cover crop is a crop that is planted in order to combat issues such as soil erosion, soil moisture, pests, crop diseases, and more. A cover crop is anything that is planted in order to literally “cover” a piece of land that is not in use. The Agriculture Department of the University of Tennessee defines a cover crop “as a living ground cover that is planted to protect the soil…it may be planted into or after a main crop and killed before the next crop is planted.” Finally, something simple to understand. In the drought year of 2012, farmers reported even greater yield increases when they used cover crops: 9.6% in corn and 11.6% in soybeans. SHP supports healthy cover crop adoption that is sustainable and works for the farmer. Cover Crops. A cover crop is any plant grown for the primary purpose of improving the soil. A bumblebee on hairy vetch, which is often used as a cover crop. Find out more information about cocktails and cover crop mixes in the Grass/Legume Mixes chapter of Managing Cover Crops Profitably. Do you know a reliable source for cover crop seeds, what will the weather be like, can you get into the field, do you want it to winterkill, and what labor and equipment will you need? Cover crop cocktails, a mixture of several species and plant types, provide different rooting patterns and varying plant architecture to add diversity to the system. Improve biodiversity by increasing the variety of species in a given area. Cover crops grown in summer are often used to fill in space during crop rotations, help amend the soil, or suppress weeds. If you use no-till farming, the cover crop mulch increases water infiltration and conserves moisture into the summer. See the Soil and Fertility Management section of this topic room or Building Soils For Better Crops for more information on building soil health by using cover crops and other practices on your farm. A cover crop is just what it sounds like: a crop that covers the soil of your garden during the off-season. Combining several cover crop species in a mix may be an option to achieve multiple goals with a cover crop. The SHP field team is a resource in helping SHP farmers understand how to adapt to cover crops in their geography. A radish cover crop is a great choice for many reasons. This site is maintained by SARE Outreach for the SARE program and is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award No. For resources on this subject, read the results of SARE-funded resesarch on the No-Till page of this topic room. Cover crops are commonly used to suppress weeds, manage soil erosion, help build and improve soil fertility and quality, control diseases and pests, and promote biodiversity.. Scroll down for further resources. “Cover Crops.” University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. This is a visible reminder that growing a food crop consumes considerable organic matter. Additionally, hairy vetch is impressively versatile and resilient; it’s a good choice in cold climates and drought conditions, and it … They help make soil fertile, prevent erosion, regulate water, reduce weeds, increase biodiversity, and improve farming as a whole. Protection against soil loss from wind and water erosion is perhaps the most obvious soil benefit, but providing organic matter is a more long-term and equally important goal. Grasses – Rye, Wheat, Barley, Oats, Sorghum, Corn, etc. As with all cover crops, make sure planting and termination times of the cover crop mix are in line with recommendations by NRCS, Risk Management Agency and crop insurance. | Photo by Jason Lilley The benefits of cover crops. Find out about cover crop planting times in this article. Plant a non-legume whenever a field has excess nutrients, particularly nitrogen. They are plants that are grown to suppress weeds, help build and improve soil, … Cover Crop Planting Times Plant cover crops in organic farming to provide nitrogen, manage weeds and improve soil health. ). Are you looking for winter cover crops to scavenge nitrogen, summer cover crops to break soil compaction, a window in a small-grain rotation to supply much needed nutrients, or even a full-year cycle to improve soil or suppress weeds? What is a Cover Crop? Many research studies around the world demonstrate that cover crops can increase yield. Over time, this investment leads to lower costs and, sometimes, increased revenue. If large amounts of nitrogen are left in the soil from the summer crop or due to a history of manure applications, non-legumes can scavenge upwards of 150 pounds per acre. Flowering cover crops can provide food and habitat for important pollinators and beneficial insects. While your garden soil is lying dormant, cover crops can prevent your precious dirt from becoming unproductive. Next, identify the best time and place to fit cover crops into your rotation (see also Crop Rotations, below). Cover crops have a host of benefits, but there isn't a single species that does it all. This publication details the opportunities for cover crops in conventional arable rotations. Winter wheat makes a good grain for use as a overwintering cover crop Using Cover Crops to Improve Drainage. Non-legume cover crops include the cereals (rye, wheat, barley, oats, triticale), forage grasses (annual ryegrass) and broadleaf species (buckwheat, mustards and brassicas, including the forage radish). In organic no-till farming, use a roller-crimper to kill the cover crop and leave the mulch on the soil surface to conserve water. To learn about other methods of attracting beneficial insects, read Agroecological Strategies to Enhance On-Farm Insect Pollinators from Managing Insects on Your Farm. Cover crops help when it doesn’t rain, they help when it rains, and they help when it pours! A cover crop is a plant that is used primarily to slow erosion, improve soil health, enhance water availability, smother weeds, help control pests and diseases, increase biodiversity and bring a host of other benefits to your farm. By stimulating biological activity in the soil, cover crops planted on a large scale can sequester huge amounts of atmospheric carbon. A cover crop is a crop of a specific plant that is grown primarily for the benefit of the soil rather than the crop yield. These crops add fertility to the soil without chemical fertilizers via biological nitrogen fixation. A cover crop can offer a natural way to reduce soil compaction, manage soil moisture, reduce overall energy use, and provide additional forage for livestock. No-till farming or other conservation agriculture systems are good opportunities to plant cover crops. “Potential And Limitations Of Cover Crops, Living Mulches, And Perennials To Reduce Nutrient Losses To Water Sources From Agricultural Fields.” U.S. Department of Agriculture. You can usually reduce your nitrogen fertilizer inputs following a legume, but they are not very good at scavenging nitrogen that is left over after your cash crops. Find more information by reading Crop Rotation on Organic Farms and Managing Cover Crops Profitably, reviewing the Crop Rotations page of this topic room, and consulting local expertise. Using hot weather cover crops is very similar to using cool weather cover crops. 133-151., doi:10.1007/s11104-014-2079-8, Wen. 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