COVER CROPS: THE SOIL HEALTH SWISS ARMY KNIFE

Like the multi-purpose tool, cover crops provide a wide range of attributes.

- Adrienne Held

At first, Greg and Jenny Rowland planted cover crops to help control erosion on their soybean and popcorn farm near Hardinsburg, Indiana. But, after a few years, the additional benefits have changed the way they think about soil health. 

“Better water infiltration, nutrient cycling, and increased organic matter,” Greg says. “When I see the worms really working on the biomass that’s left, I can really see the soil biology and how it’s all cycling and building organic matter.”

The 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture reported 18 million acres of cover crops planted across the U.S., an increase of 2.6 million acres from 2017. But this is far from conservation leaders’ goal of 50 million acres. Concerns about equipment, time, and yield impacts contribute to cover crop hesitancy. 

Rob Myers, director of the University of Missouri Center for Regenerative Agriculture, believes financial incentives, seeding services, and variety improvement will help close the gap. “I think it will take a combination of approaches,” says Myers, also North Central Regional Director of Extension Programs for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE). “We are seeing farmers getting more comfortable with the idea of cover cropping and the benefits they provide.”

Meyers compares cover crops to a Swiss Army knife that offers a broad set of tools to address various field and farming goals. Besides enhancing soil health, cover crops help reduce soil erosion, sequester soil carbon, improve weed control, manage nutrients, and increase water quality. 

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