The interest in cover crops has increased recently due to the benefits they can provide to the corn-soybean cropping system.

Frank Moore believes a little trial and error on his farm can go long way, and that led him to switch over to strip-tilling corn and introducing cover crops on his 2,000 acre farm near Cresco in northern Iowa.

With an increasing global population, a shrinking agricultural land base, climate change and extreme weather events, the nations of the world are focusing their collective attention to the primary resource essential to food production - the soil.

Fall cover crops, such as clover, turnips and peas, can provide nutrient-rich winter forage and help lure hungry deer away from hay and other stored livestock feed.

More farmers, ranchers and others who rely on the land are taking action to improve the health of their soil

For the second year, a national survey of farmers has documented a yield boost from the use of cover crops in corn and soybeans, as well as a wide variety of other benefits. The survey also details the challenges and benefits farmers expect from cover crops, data on the costs of seed and establishment, and insight into how farmers learn to manage covers.

Cresco, Iowa, strip-tiller Frank Moore shares his experience incorporating cover crops into his 2,000 acre operation. With changing weather patterns and more "event storms", that can erode soil structure, Moore's goal with cover crops in strip-till is to establish the crop in winter and have it help control spring rainfall through an established root system to hold soil in place.

You could call Dean Sponheim an accidental conservationist. Well, at least initially, anyway. In 1999, Sponheim was frustrated that every year he had to replant a big chunk of a field that wasn't well tiled. "I was looking for a system where I didn't have to work it in the spring," he said.

Now is the time to think about controlling summer annual weeds prior to seed set in cropping situations where this is possible.

Dr. Tracy Blackmer, Director of Research for Cover Crop Solutions, provides a basic understanding of the nutrient benefits provided by various species of cover crops and how no-tillers can properly utilize those cover crops to reduce their levels of applied fertilizer. [To view any of our webinar replays, you must be logged in with a free user account.]