Due to popular demand, the editors of Cover Crop Strategies are pleased to present a fall edition of the National Cover Crop Summit. This free, 2-day virtual event on Nov. 17-18 will feature 6 sessions sharing ideas, tips and information from crop industry experts and growers who have experience using cover crops to maximize economic and soil-health building benefits.

Diversifying crop rotations can offer significant positive results, improving soil health and boosting biological activity and nutrient cycling. Cronin Farms, a no-till operation based near Gettysburg, S.D., has crop rotations down to a science, including forages and cover crops.

According to a September survey from Purdue University, nearly 4 out of 10 corn/soybean producers in the survey said they intend to plant at least some cover crops in fall 2020.

As we approach the fall cover crop planting season, the industry is starting to see shortages of a few different crops like radishes, hairy vetch and annual clovers due to the record amount of acreage that was planted last year as part of USDA’s prevent plant program. Read more in this article from Go Seed.

The growth in cover cropping may soon hit a ceiling: planting millions of acres of cover crops will require huge extensions of land to produce cover crop seed. Between 3 and 6% of the 92 million acres of cropping land currently used for corn in the U.S. may be required to produce cover crop seed for that land area. Read more in this article from Seed World.

Craig Stehly is a no-tiller who farms 12,000 acres of corn, soybeans, winter wheat and a variety of cover crops around Mitchell, S.D., with his brother, Gene. I caught up with Craig the afternoon of Wednesday, April 8.

A common question when incorporating cover crops into a production system is, will the cover crop interfere with the performance of residual herbicides included with the burndown treatment? This article from Iowa State University Extension will discuss the fate of residual herbicides applied to crop residue and living cover crops, and how this may influence herbicide effectiveness.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced a new pilot program that enables farmers in the Prairie Pothole region to receive payments for planting cover crops on their land for three to five years. The new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Soil Health and Income Protection Program (SHIPP) pilot is available to producers in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Careful manure management is a principle of farm profitability and environmental stewardship. Applying manure to land that has a cover crop is another practice that can help with nitrogen management.