Starting this spring, global commodities trader Cargill will pay American farmers for capturing carbon in their field soils and cutting fertilizer runoff.

Our editors dig deep into the cover cropping habits of strip-tillers, evaluating seeding methods, termination practices, variety selection and much more in the first Cover Crop Strategies Benchmark Study. Nearly 1,500 respondents identifying themselves as farmers or ranchers participated in the study, including more than 200 strip-tillers. 

Green Cover Seed, headquartered in Bladen, Neb., has announced the opening of a second location to better serve customers and to better reach people with the message of hope and change that regenerating soils can deliver.

Craig Stehly is a no-tiller who farms 12,000 acres of corn, soybeans, winter wheat and a variety of cover crops around Mitchell, S.D., with his brother, Gene. I caught up with Craig the afternoon of Wednesday, April 8.

Although I try not to pitch cover crops as some magic bullet for cost saving, my experience shows that the answer to the question — “Do cover crops pay?” — is a resounding yes. Often, we tend to focus on the potential for increased cash crop yields, and that may indeed occur, but probably not every season. Read more in this article from Lancaster Farming.

Chris Kucharik, Professor of Agronomy & Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin, discusses what weather trends he's seeing and how they could impact farmers, what additional rainfall levels will mean for growers, and how cover crops can play a role.

Pennsylvania cover crop expert Steve Groff shares insights on how growers use cover crops to retain moisture in the soil in Australia, managing soil erosion in Tasmania, observations on soil types and structure in France, and more. (Courtesy of Cover Crop Innovators)

Pennsylvania cover crop expert Steve Groff explains why growing two different species of crops—one cash crop and one cover crop--can be beneficial to your bottom line. (Courtesy of Cover Crop Innovators)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced a new pilot program that enables farmers in the Prairie Pothole region to receive payments for planting cover crops on their land for three to five years. The new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Soil Health and Income Protection Program (SHIPP) pilot is available to producers in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.