The Next Big Thing

Abbie W.

Cover crops are the new up and coming crop being planted. The reason this is a big thing is due to they will help slow erosion along with improving soil health. This is so important since are soil quality is overtime becoming more depleted. Without quality soil we cannot grow crops and we need to have higher crop production than ever with our ever growing population. Cover crops also help enhance water availability. They control pests and diseases, while hosting numerous benefits to your farm.

           

Cover Crops increase the yield of the crop; yield is the amount of a crop that was harvested per unit of land area. Corn yields increased by 9.6 percent and soybeans is 11.6 percent, which is huge. Cover crops for legumes are great for reducing nitrogen fertilizer inputs that is left over from cash crops. Nitrogen is a huge contributor to environmental issues especially in water, therefore reducing nitrogen output is a huge improvement. No till farming has found this to be a great opportunity as these farms already are looking for ways to be conservative. While nitrogen is found less in legumes, cover crops actually help to increase nitrogen levels in organic crops. They manage weeds and mulch helps to conserve water.

            Economically cover crops are beneficial as well. You save on fuel costs and commodity prices. Increasing yield increases farmer’s income while decreasing prices for consumers as more are produced. Cover crops are currently a big discussion topic right now. But there are so many proven benefits to this that it is definitely something we need to start to use.