Everytime I see a report about something new and interesting in the world of agriculture, it always seems to lead back to cover crops. My thought process is that growers who are using cover crops on their farm are already accustomed to thinking outside the box and are more open-minded to crazy ideas. 

This Cover Crop Strategies special report has featured stories of cover crop innovations of all kinds over the past several years that exemplify that same idea. 

We’ve shared the story of Ryan Schmid, a research scientist and agroecologist in South Dakota, who creatively turned tillage equipment into a homemade roller crimper for terminating cover crops. 

We’ve featured stories on early adopters of brand new cover crop technology like drone seeding, or in-field autonomous robots to help with cover crop planting tasks.

And every year in this report we’ve included in-depth coverage of our annual Cover Crop Benchmark Study. In its 7th edition this year, the study revealed plenty of insights to further the idea that cover croppers are creative and curious and constantly innovating new ways to make things work better on their farms. 

Here are a few examples of why cover crops and innovation should appear side by side in the thesaurus as synonyms. 

1. Like many things in the world right now, groceries, gas and even cover crops are getting more expensive. Costs for cover crop seed and termination were generally up, and growers say they are anticipating spending even more in 2026. But at the same time, more growers are estimating higher nitrogen credits from cover crops than they did in 2024, and several other cover crop incentive programs around the country show higher payout numbers than in recent years. 

2. Cover crop emergence in dry weather was a top challenge in 2025. But that doesn’t mean those farmers who dealt with dry weather gave up on their cover crops and threw in the towel. We know this because we also saw an increase in the percent of farmers who seeded preharvest — perhaps to capitalize on the moisture in the soil?

3. Drone use for seeding also increased again to 17% from 11% in 2024. 29.1% of drone users say they plan to use drones for seeding in 2026, and the percent of growers who have already purchased or intend to purchase a drone for use this year increased 7.4 percentage points to 21.2%. These large increases are only further proof of cover croppers willing to welcome new technology with open arms and get on board with any idea that helps the bottom line and makes things more efficient. 

As you dive head first into this special Cover Crop Strategies report, take note of how many examples you see where cover crops feel synonymous with terms like creativity, curiosity, efficiency and Innovation. I’m not a gambler but I’d take the over on at least once per page in this report.