Cover crops enrich the soil, suppress weeds, and can save you money on amendments.

Farmers usually plant cover crops after harvesting their main crop. This prevents erosion of the soil and nutrient leaching. The roots of these crops also stabilize the structure of the soil. It had ...

What’s cover cropping all about, anyway? As with many eco initiatives, what was old is new again: Cover crops (or fallow season plantings; see more below) were first used during the Roman Empire as a ...

Soybeans grow through a dense blanket of diverse cover crop residue in this Nebraska field. (Image courtesy of Ron Nichols ...

Planting cover crops is a beneficial agricultural practice. One of their many benefits is to cover soil for times when farmers cannot plant cash crops like corn and soy—over the winter, for example.

For corn and soybean growers eyeing cover crops, the real question isn’t whether they work. It’s whether they’ll pay. Rob Myers knows that conversation well. As director of the University of Missouri ...

The climate crisis and years of unsustainable farming in the United States have resulted in soil erosion, pollinator loss, farmworkers and livestock exposed to extreme heat, and other harmful impacts.

Cover crops are plants that are planted to cover the soil to keep it in place and improve soil health. They can be intercropped with other crops or planted after harvesting. The crops are mainly grown ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Promoting early season plant cover, primarily through the use of cover crops, can be more effective at reducing pest density and crop damage than insecticide applications, ...