News
Barometer looks at cover crop usage this fall
Forty percent of farmers surveyed in the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer say they will plant cover crops this fall.
Jim Mintert is the director of the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture.
“Roughly four out of 10 people that grow either corn or soybeans said that they plan to plant some cover crops,” he says.
Mintert says they asked a follow-up question about how many cover crops would be planted.
“Quite a few of those are just going to do it on a sample basis,” he says. “Fifty-two percent said they would plant cover crops on one-third or less of their corn and soybean acreage.”
According to the survey, two-thirds of the farmers who intend to plant a cover crop this fall have been planting cover crops for more than four years. Seven percent of respondents said this would be the first time they planted a cover crop.
Nearly 80 percent of farmers who intend to plant cover crops say they are doing it to improve soil health and crop yields.
