cover crops

Drought Management

How Cover Cropping Can Help Your Operation Survive Drought Conditions

June 8, 2023 | Posted in Soil Health, Investing in Regenerative Ag

Struggling with drought? Find practical solutions using no-till and cover crops with the help of our recommended articles from No-Till Farmer and Cover Crop Strategies.

Product Showcase

CrustBuster All-Plant Drill

June 6, 2023

Precisely, reliably drill soybeans, cereals, cover crops and more with the CrustBuster All-Plant Drill designed for no-till.

I55 Dust Storm Crash Illinois State Police.jpeg

Cover Crops: Responsible Choice for Preventing Deadly Dust Storms

By Michaela Paukner posted on May 18, 2023 | Posted in Soil Health

On May 1, 2023, high winds blew soil from recently tilled fields across a 2-mile stretch of Interstate 55 in central Illinois, causing blackout-type visibility on the roads. Seven people died and another 37 were hurt in a 70-car pileup resulting from the dust storm.

Could Cover Crops Have Prevented Deadly Illinois Dust Storm?

By Noah Newman posted on May 4, 2023 | Posted in Soil Health

No-till innovator and retired USDA soil scientist Don Reicosky says an incident like this should never happen in the Corn Belt, a region containing what he calls “the best soils in the world!"

Winter Cover Crops Could Reduce Nitrogen in Drainage Water by 30%

April 25, 2023 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: University of Illinois

As Corn Belt states seek ways to curb nitrogen flow from farms into the Gulf of Mexico, new University of Illinois research adds evidence for winter cover crops as an important part of the solution.

Pull the Plug on Planting Green if Weather is Unseasonably Warm?

April 13, 2023

Source: Penn State Extension

Research from Penn State and other institutions shows that planting green significantly dries the top three inches in the soil profile compared to planting into cover crops killed a week or more pre-plant, because the growing cover crop transpires and draws water out of the root zone.

Minnesota Research Study Examines Benefits of Combining Cover Crops & Manure

By Jonathan Eisenthal posted on March 28, 2023 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: Minnesota Corn Growers Association

Cover crops and manure are tools that help farmers keep soil in place and provide nutrients for row crops. University of Minnesota Extension Associate Professor Melissa Wilson has spent three growing seasons looking at the best ways to use these tools together.

Tennessee, Mississippi Farmers Use Cover Crops to Improve Soil Health

March 16, 2023 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol

Air, water, minerals, and organic matter—both living and non-living– are the basic ingredients of soils. They occur in many combinations. And the relative proportions of these ingredients affect how soil behaves, what kinds of plants grow in it, and how well they grow.

Cover Crops & No-Till Reduce Crop Insurance Claims According to New Study

March 6, 2023 | Posted in Economics

The extremely wet spring of 2019 caused 14.2 million acres of cropland to go unplanted in the Midwest. Farmers across the region had flooded fields that kept them from getting equipment onto the fields to plant their crops. This resulted in over $4 billion of prevent-plant crop insurance claims, which assists farmers when weather conditions keep them from planting a crop altogether.