Model Helps Determine Optimal Conditions for Cover Crops

A model developed by researchers at North Carolina State University can suggest the optimal conditions for farmers to plant cover crops. Although agronomic benefits of cover crops are widely recognized, only a small percentage of farmers use them, largely because of the cost of planting and maintaining them. This new model, based on 35 years of cotton-farming information, helps farmers consider the economics of cover crops in light of local conditions: current prices of cash crops and fertilizer, as well as the health and fertility of the soil. In general, the model favors planting cover crops on fields with relatively healthy soil and on land that has not been tilled. One of the study authors explains, “There is a lot of academic literature looking at short-term effects of cover crops, but our contribution here is in thinking about cover crops as a long-term investment.”
Related ATTRA publication: Overview of Cover Crops and Green Manures