Farmer Perspectives on Cover Crop Breeding.

Despite the important role cover crops play in agricultural sustainability, little research and development has focused on them compared with commodity cash crops. We conducted an online survey to better understand the needs of farmers who use cover crops and the potential opportunities that exist for cover crop breeding. We collected demographic data and information on farmer management practices and farmer perspectives on winter annual cover crop traits. Of the 417 responses received from farmers over the one-month active period of the survey, 87% reported that they used cover crops. We targeted organic farmers in our distribution of this survey, which resulted in 67% of the respondents reporting that they farmed organic land. Overall, respondents represented a wide diversity of states, farm sizes, plant hardiness zones, and cash crops produced. Results from the survey provide insight into the practical challenges of growing cover crops and farmers’ perspectives on opportunities for breeding to play a role in addressing limitations with cover crop performance. Respondents reported strong support for cover crop research and participatory breeding. For example, 73% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “More research should be conducted on cover crop breeding and variety improvement”. The maximum amount farmers are willing to spend on cover crop seed varied; 38% of farmers were willing to spend between $25 and $50/acre and 36% were willing to spend more than $50/acre. Our results illustrate substantial interest from farmers for more research on cover crop breeding and indicate opportunities for variety improvement and cover crop seed market development.