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Cover Crops
Improve Your Soil Health
Cover crops are grasses, legumes, and forbs planted for seasonal vegetative cover that can help reduce soil erosion, maintain or increase soil organic matter, suppress weeds, provide additional forage for livestock, minimize compaction, and more!
Cover crops can be an important part of a cropping system. The harvest of row crops, such as corn silage or soybeans, usually leaves the soil surface bare until the next crop season. The soil can remain bare for up to seven months, making it vulnerable to erosion from rainfall, snowmelt, or wind. To help combat and reduce soil erosion, cover crops are typically established and grown during the fall months and remain until the next spring crop season.
Cover crops combined with tillage management practices can significantly improve soil health. Tillage management can include no-till, strip-till, and reduced till. These combined practices result in minimal soil disturbance and improved soil productivity.
Benefits of Cover Crops and Tillage Management:
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Improves soil health
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Increases soil organic matter
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Reduces soil erosion
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Conserves soil moisture
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Increases nutrient cycling
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Provides additional forage for livestock
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Reduces fuel costs
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Crop residue on soil surface year-round
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Provides nitrogen for plant use
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Suppresses weeds
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Minimizes compaction
Single or Multi-Species Cover Crops to Choose From!
Legumes
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Crimson and red clover, hairy vetch, cowpeas, field peas
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Fast growing forage species
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Erosion control, fix atmospheric nitrogen, attract insects and more
Grains and Grasses
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Barley, buckwheat, oats, winter wheat/rye, triticale, annual ryegrass
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Small seeded species that is often mixed with legumes
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Erosion control, prevents weeds, builds organic matter and more
Brassicas
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Arugula, canola, forage radish, mustard
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Rapid cool season growth
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Improves aeration, suppresses weeds, erosion control and more
Healthy Soil Starts with Living Roots in the Ground Year Round!
Learn about the importance of having living roots in the ground year-round with this video featuring farmer, Alex Udermann of Meadowbrook Farms. Discover how cover crops can improve soil structure, increase earthworm communities, and help reduce flooding and erosion. Learn how they actively manage water to keep nutrients in place and prevent them from leaching into the groundwater.
Watch the video to see how cover crops can aid in your soil health journey!
This video was put together by a soil health interagency workgroup with the help of Graywood Films. If you have questions about this video and the resources, please contact Katie Breth with Minnesota Rural Water Association (MRWA) at (218)-671-1006 or katie.breth@mrwa.com.
The Stearns Conservation District has multiple programs with funds readily available for cover crop and tillage management for Stearns County farmers. Let us help you decide what may personally work best for your operation! If you are interested in learning more about our programs or applying for one, call 320-251.7800 ext.3 or stop in our office from 8:00am to 4:30pm to talk to a SCD Conservation Planner!
