Managing Cover Crops for Improved Soil Health and Water Quality.

Cover crops are known to be beneficial for improving soil health and water quality.  Research and farmer practice have clearly shown benefits, but widespread adoption is needed in order to achieve the potential of cover crops to improve soil and water over broad geographic regions.  There are many management challenges facing producers who want to adopt cover crops, in addition to the economic challenge of lack of short-term benefits.  As researchers work to document soil health and water quality benefits of cover crops, the practical management issues should be kept in mind.  In more northerly climates, for example, seeding technologies and dates and the variation in autumn weather lead to unreliability of cover crop stand establishment.  Without achieving a good stand, obviously any benefits of the cover will be limited.  Relatively short remaining growing season from the time of cover crop seeding to the time of killing frost in autumn, often limits cover crop growth and therefore the effects of cover crops on soil and water.  For maximum benefit from the cover crop, greater amounts of growth in both autumn and spring are desirable, but from the management standpoint of growing a cash crop, there is often a tradeoff between maximum cover crop growth and optimum cash crop productivity.  Although water quality benefits are usually greater where a cover crop grows in both autumn and spring, many producers prefer to grow a cover crop that grows vigorously in autumn and then winter-kills, for easier management in spring.  Selection of appropriate cover crops, alone or in mixtures, is needed to match the desired purposes of the cover crop and fit within the cash cropping system and time windows available.  This presentation will discuss practical and scientific considerations for optimizing cover crop management for soil health, water quality, and cash crop productivity.