Soil Health Partnership findings from inaugural cover crop planting report

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Soil Health Partnership findings from inaugural cover crop planting report

The Soil Health Partnership has released findings from its first ever cover crop planting report. 

SHP lead scientist Maria Bowman says they wanted to better understand how cover crops impact a farmers’ bottom line.

“We need to know what they’re using, how they’re managing them, and how much they’re spending to get those cover crops out there.”

She tells Brownfield the key takeaways from the survey centered on cover crop species, cost, and the timing of application.

“A lot of them were planting after they harvested their cash crop, but about 25 percent inter-seeded or over-seeded their cover crop into a standing cash crop.”

Bowman says nearly half of respondents went with a single species.

“And four out of five of those are planting cereal rye, so it’s a popular choice in our network. And even for the farmers that were planting mixes, cereal rye was the most widely used species in mixes.”

The survey also revealed a lot of variability in cost.

“The median cost of the seed itself was $15 an acre, and the median cost that they estimated to apply it was $12 an acre.”

Bowman says those costs varied based on mixes and seeding methods.

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