The Midwest Cover Crops Council (MCCC) is rolling out an improved cover crop selection tool that will help farmers make decisions. Users select their state/province and county and then select the goals they have for cover crops — erosion control, nitrogen scavenger, fighting weeds and providing forage, etc. Read more in this press release from Purdue University.

Harvest season is a busy time. There is so much for a grower to organize, manage and stay on top of that adding one more thing during the season — like seeding cover crops — may seem way too daunting.

As many farmers are getting ready to begin harvest, farmers who grow winter wheat are preparing to plant. There are many reasons why growers have been planting winter wheat in eastern Nebraska. Read more in this article from University of Nebraska Extension.

According to a September survey from Purdue University, nearly 4 out of 10 corn/soybean producers in the survey said they intend to plant at least some cover crops in fall 2020.

Although many growers may consider the “ideal” time to plant cover crops to be immediately after harvest, having snow on the ground is not a reason to give up on utilizing the benefits cover crops can offer. This is where frost seeding comes into play as a cover crop seeding method.

As we approach the fall cover crop planting season, the industry is starting to see shortages of a few different crops like radishes, hairy vetch and annual clovers due to the record amount of acreage that was planted last year as part of USDA’s prevent plant program. What we typically see in shortage situations is that seed will still be available to producers – however, it may be bottom of the bin in terms of quality and can carry a lot of risks. Read more in this article from Go Seed.

Using spring seeded cover crops in sugar beets is a familiar practice for farmers, but many are asking about other ways to use cover crops in their system to accomplish different goals other than protecting sugar beet seedlings. Some are flying on a cover crop like cereal rye or barley prior to topping the beets, seeding smaller pre-harvest areas to help reduce erosion or seeding cereal rye post-harvest if time allows. Read more in this article from AgWeek.

High biomass cover crops are effective in controlling weeds in vegetable production, while contributing to higher produce yields, Auburn University researchers have found. In addition, pre-emergence herbicide applications can be eliminated from weed management programs in the presence of heavy residues from cover crop mixtures. Read more in this article from the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) program.

The best management practice to reduce the resistant rootworm population is to rotate out of corn for at least one year. If that field is rotated to a non-host crop (e.g. alfalfa, rye, triticale, sorghum-sudangrass) in the following year, the larvae will die after hatching, and the population will be eliminated.

As small grain harvest moves along, some farmers will plant cover crops into those fields to do things such as improve soil condition, control weeds or provide fall grazing for livestock and wildlife. Before planting the cover crop seeds, South Dakota Department of Agriculture Plant Industry Program Manager Brenda Sievers reminds farmers to check the source of the seeds and to be sure a lab analysis has been done on them.