You don’t typically hear farmers saying they want to attract bugs to their farm, but that’s what a unique conservation project in California’s Sacramento Valley is doing – determining whether cover crops can attract more at-risk native pollinators, like monarch butterflies, in addition to insects that serve as pest control, like ladybugs. The project came about thanks to a $3-million monarch and pollinator recovery bill (AB 2421) designed to establish habitat restoration projects for important pollinator species facing steep population losses. Find out more in this blog post from the Environmental Defense Fund.

Planting annual cover crops in between cash cropping systems can be a great way to produce extra forage and extend the grazing season. Cover crop grazing can provide benefits to your operation including saving time, money and improving soil health. Find out more in this article from the Soil Health Partnership.

For the last couple of decades, a tiny insect called the Asian citrus psyllid has fed on the stems and leaves of the orange trees in Florida, infecting them with bacteria that cause a lethal disease called citrus greening. After years of seeking remedies—everything from antibiotics to GMOs to psyllid-sniffing dogs—with little success, Florida’s embattled citrus growers have discovered a new tool, thanks to the work of researchers at the University of Florida: planting cover crops amidst the orange groves.

Careful manure management is a principle of farm profitability and environmental stewardship. Applying manure to land that has a cover crop is another practice that can help with nitrogen management.

Researchers at Rodale Institute have spent the past few years taking a closer look how industrial hemp—especially crops grown for fiber or grain—may fit into farmers’ established crop rotation. Considering hemp’s hardy double-duty as both a cash crop and a cover crop, there’s a lot to learn.