- Establishing a winter rye cover crop between corn-soybean rotations in tile-drained fields (meaning, those using a system of underground drainage pipes to remove excess water) reduced nitrate levels in drainage water by more than 45 percent compared to rye-free fields—or about 21 and 44 kilograms per hectare, respectively.
- Across the 63-total million hectares (approximately 156 million acres) of North Central farmland that the model’s simulations encompassed, use of a winter rye cover crops on tile-drained fields translated to a 27 percent reduction in nitrate loads entering the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River basin.
National Cover Crop Variety Testing Program
As part of a $10 million effort funded by the USDA, the first National Cover Crop Variety Test Report is being released publicly. The project is led by the University of Missouri’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture and includes data for 25 varieties representing six different cover crop species tested across 12 states to help inform cover crop decision making.