Cover Crops and Soil Health: A Collaborative Effort.

A Monsanto Technology Development Sustainability Field Team was formed in February 2013 to develop a testing framework and protocols for long-term cover crop trial research.  Cover crops have been identified as an agronomic tool available to mitigate environmental risks, while improving yield resiliency in cropping system production.  However, very little long-term cropping system data exists to develop multi-level (national, regional and local) best management practice recommendations for cover crop establishment.  The testing framework and protocol generation was developed to address the lack of consistent multi-level field data from long-term cropping system trials utilizing cover crops.  The developed protocols were similar in methodology and treatment structure, yet were adapted to three regional cropping systems throughout the Mississippi River Basin.  Treatments included combinations of cover crops with and without tillage across crops within a rotation.  Regionally adapted protocols included a focus on continuous corn (with and without stover removal), corn/soybean, and corn silage/alfalfa crop rotations. The team secured funding for both internal (Monsanto TD) trials and external (collaborative trials housed at universities initially in the Mississippi River Basin) trials.  In total, 14 regionally adapted cover crop locations were established in 2013 in 7 states initially focused on yield and soil health with opportunities for monitoring water and air quality.  Initial soil samples were collected and cover crops were planted at all 14 sites in the fall of 2013.  Expansion of long-term cropping trials to generate high quality data over multiple years throughout the Mississippi River Basin presents an opportunity for Monsanto to partner with growers and conservation groups to increase awareness and adoption. On-farm locations were placed with key growers and universities in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.