Cover crop in Missouri: putting them to work on your farm

Authors: MYERS, ROB - University Of Missouri; ELLIS, CHARLIE - University Of Missouri; HOORMAN, RICH - University Of Missouri; REINBOTT, TIM - University Of Missouri; Kitchen, Newell; REISNER, JODIE - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, USDA)

Submitted to: University of Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station Publication
Publication Type: Experiment Station
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/7/2015
Publication Date: 8/27/2015
Citation: Myers, R., Ellis, C., Hoorman, R., Reinbott, T., Kitchen, N.R., Reisner, J. 2015. Cover crop in Missouri: putting them to work on your farm. University of Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station Publication. G4161. Available: http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G4161.

Interpretive Summary: Sunlight powers agriculture and fortunately is free to all farmers. The challenge is harvesting as much sunlight as possible. With commodity crops that may only be in the field for 4 to 5 months, there are several months each year when fields are receiving untapped sunlight. Fortunately, cover crops can help take advantage of this free sunlight resource, protecting the soil while providing living roots to feed the soil microbial community and creating soil health improvements. Lately farmers have been finding that cover crops can also help prevent soil compaction, improve soil moisture management, get the rain to soak into the soil, help with challenging weeds, and even improve commodity yields. The positive benefits provided by cover crops are valuable not only for sustaining our food production capacity but also for regenerating our soil resource. Many cover crop benefits come about because of the things they do that we don’t see, because their roots that are growing deep, helping soil structure, storing soil carbon and improving overall soil health. Because of all the benefits cover crops can provide, they are unlike almost any other crop input; not a cure-all, but definitely increasing the health of our cropping systems. This guide written for Missouri farmers articulates these benefits, describes the pros and cons of a number of commonly used cover crops, and provides cover crop recommendations for typical Missouri crop rotations.

Technical Abstract: Sunlight powers agriculture and fortunately is free to all farmers. The challenge is harvesting as much sunlight as possible. With commodity crops that may only be in the field for 4 to 5 months, there are several months each year when fields are receiving untapped sunlight. Fortunately, cover crops can help take advantage of this free sunlight resource, protecting the soil while providing living roots to feed the soil microbial community and creating soil health improvements. Lately farmers have been finding that cover crops can also help prevent soil compaction, improve soil moisture management, get the rain to soak into the soil, help with challenging weeds, and even improve commodity yields. The positive benefits provided by cover crops are valuable not only for sustaining our food production capacity but also for regenerating our soil resource. Many cover crop benefits come about because of the things they do that we don’t see, because their roots that are growing deep, helping soil structure, storing soil carbon and improving overall soil health. Because of all the benefits cover crops can provide, they are unlike almost any other crop input; not a cure-all, but definitely increasing the health of our cropping systems. This guide written for Missouri farmers articulates these benefits, describes the pros and cons of a number of commonly used cover crops, and provides cover crop recommendations for typical Missouri crop rotations.