Cover Crops
Clare Lindahl
Executive Director, Conservation Districts of Iowa
Cover Crops:
Benefits
 Cover bare ground
preventing erosion, loss of
soil from wind & water
 Fixes N, making it
available for succeeding
cash crop
 Keep P & N in your system
 Protects water resources
 Reduce fertilizer needs/
costs
Cover Crops:
Benefits
 Improve soil health
 Enhancing the nutrient
system (P & N)
 Plant & residue conserve
soil moisture
 Reduce compaction,
encourage infiltration
 Increase organic matter,
increase biological activity
 Improve yields
Tillage Radish
Oats
Biological activity in soil
Cover Crops:
Benefits
 Can suppress weeds by
providing competition,
shading & allelopathic
characteristics
 Encourage beneficial biological
activity/microbial life in soil,
discourage disease
 Encourage beneficial insects,
prey on pests
 Reduce need/cost for
herbicides & pesticides
Cover Crops:
Benefits
 Provides opportunity
for producers with
livestock to graze or
hay
 Opportunities for
Iowa businesses
 Provides winter food
and cover for birds &
other wildlife
Cover Crops:
Areas of continued research
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Research & results specific to Iowa
Quantifying environmental & on farm benefits
Timing & management
Species & mixes
Cover Crops:
Assistance
 2011 Resolution to
CDI, in place 2012
 Allows for Districts to
use up to 25% of their
IFIP funds for
establishment of a
cover crop
 Up to $25/acres
 To be used on the
same acres only once
2012
46 Districts participated
$277,020.19 was spent
13,068.48 acres installed
Cover Crops:
Assistance
 Cost share funds through EQIP
 Flat rate per acre
 Payment varies by cover crop
species used
 Different initiatives result in
payment ranges from $28.71 to
$97.54 per acre
 Can get it on the same acres every
year for a maximum of three
consecutive years
 Usually no caps, could be local cap
 4000 acres (4 years ago) to 50,000
acres last year (Wallaces Farmer)
Cover Crops:
Indiana
INDIANA
1 million acres
of
cover crops!
Cover Crops:
Insurance
 To qualify for federal crop
insurance on your spring/cash
crop:
 Crop (other than cover crop) must
be terminated before any of the
crop reaches the headed or budded
stage
 Cover Crop can not be hayed,
grazed or harvested past May 10
 Cover Crop must be terminated
(herbicide or tillage) before
planting spring crop (USDA-RMA,
IA, MN & WI, 2013)
Contact your crop
insurance agent!
Cover Crops:
Promotion
 Lead by example!
 Take notes and share
your story
 Hold or promote Field
Days on Cover Crops
 Bring attention to Cover
Crops
 Talk to the private sector
about Cover Crop
business opportunities
Practical
Farmers of
Iowa (PFI) &
Iowa
Learning
Farms (ILF)
PA-www.lancastereaglegazette.com
MD - www.mda.maryland.gov
Cover Crops:
Promotion
 Think outside the box!
OH - farmprogress.com
IN - plantcovercrops.com
Cover Crops:
Resources
 Practical Farmers of Iowa, www.practicalfarmers.org, select Field
Crops (left side of screen), select Cover Crops (first topic in Center of
Page)
 Managing Cover Crops Profitably
 Cover Crop Business Directory
 Adding a Cover Crop to a Corn-Soybean System in Iowa (25 minute video)
 Midwest Cover Crops Council, www.mccc.msu.edu
 New Iowa Cover Crop Decision Tools: web-based systems to assist
farmers in selecting cover crops to include in field crop and vegetable
rotations.
Thank you!