How can you trim fertilizer costs and still provide adequate nutrients for corn and soybeans next season? One solution is to consider planting some cover crops this fall, recommends David Hula, reigning world corn yield record holder.
“Nitrogen, potash, boron, sulfur… those are mobile nutrients, so if you plant a cover crop it’s going to pick up those nutrients, and then when you kill that cover crop, you can recycle that residue that was left over, or the residual nutrients that were left over,” explains Hula, who farms near Charles City, Va.
Cover crops can scavenge for nutrients from previous crops, store them and then release them for use the following season – a process that can help reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers.
Hula adds that corn and soybean growers don’t need to be using no-till on the farm to benefit.
“You can strip-till into those cover crops, or early in the spring you can work the cover crops in to get the benefits,” he says.
Randy Dowdy says one of the benefits he’s seen is that microbial activity likes to colonize around a living root mass.
“You know, it always helps our early season tissue sample values go up where we’ve got a cover crop,” says Dowdy, Hula’s partner in Total Acre. “So if guys can, at least on bean ground where they’ve harvested, get some cover crop established and get it up, from a biological play and nutrient availability play for next season, it’s a no brainer.”
Experience Has Increased Farmer Confidence
The survey data show that cover crop plantings are on the rise among farmers who already have experience using them, according to results of the September Purdue/CME Ag Economy Barometer. And, those growers will plant cover crops on a higher percentage of their total acreage this fall, reports Jim Mintert, emeritus professor of economics at Purdue University.
He says the survey trends point to broader adoption across acreage: This year, 57% of cover crop users planted them on 26% to 50% of their acres, compared to only 25% in 2021 who reported planting cover crops on more than one-fourth of their acreage.
“What the survey says is, if you use cover crops, you’re using them more intensively now than you did in the past,” Mintert adds.
He believes the increased use of cover crops by those farmers indicates they have figured out how to capitalize on the benefits.
“It’s like this learning curve, where maybe the folks that have learned how to use them are adopting them on a wider portion of their farm acreage. I think that is what we’re picking up,” Mintert says.
Where And Why Cover Crops Are Being Used
Cover crop use by farmers across the U.S. increased 17% between 2017 and 2022 – from 15,390,674 acres to 17,985,831acres – data from the 2022 Census of Agriculture show. In total, cover crops were planted on 4.7% of all cropland in 2022.
Regional differences in the use of cover crops are related to factors such as climate, soils, cropping systems, and state incentive programs, according to USDA-Economic Research Service.
For example, Maryland, which has the highest rate of cover crop use, has programs that encourage farmers to grow cover crops to help improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.
“Water quality is a big deal for those of us on the East Coast, and there are some programs available through NRCS and others that could be a little bit of a revenue stream for a grower and you can reduce some expenses,” says Hula.
Warm Conditions Could Help Stand Establishment
With the current fall conditions across the Midwest, Hula would encourage growers new to using cover crops there to experiment with them on some acres.
“A lot of times, Midwest growers are worried they’re going to run out of time to get a cover crop planted, but with as warm as it is, you have a good chance to get some growth established this fall and a good root system going before conditions turn cold,” he says.
Moisture is needed to get cover crops established well, and that is a concern in some areas this fall, cautions the Midwest Cover Crops Council. It says good soil moisture at seeding and 0.5” to 1” of rainfall after seeding will improve germination and stand establishment.
The Council has recommendations for which cover crops are a good fit by state and especially well-suited to farmers who are new to growing them. Learn more here.
Hula and Dowdy address cover crops in more detail in their Breaking Barriers with R&D during their discussion on AgriTalk:
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