Cover crops can do more than protect soil between growing seasons. USDA Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation Richard Fordyce explains some of the ways farmers are putting cover crops to work on their operations.
“A cover crop is a crop that’s planted after the cash crop is harvested. They’re species of plants that introduce plant biodiversity into the soil, and it can contribute to increased organic matter, but it also, roots of different types of plants stimulate different bacteria in the soil. Number two, it is a cover, covering cropland that over some months could be exposed to wind erosion, could be exposed to water erosion, and it covers that soil and helps protect the soil when there’s not an active cash crop growing. And then, depending on when they’re established in the fall, producers can get some grazing capacity out of those cover crops in the fall,” said Fordyce.
“Once those cover crops green up in the spring, the ability to graze those for a period of time, and certainly it’s not a long time, but that can help a livestock producer maybe stretch out their hay supply or just be an alternative source of forage,” Fordyce added.
Audio Reporting by Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.