Cover Crop Decision Making: Information Sources and Barriers/Incentives for Adoption Based on a Montana Producer Survey.

Cover crop adoption is rapidly increasing in the northern Great Plains of North America, yet cover crops are only planted on a small fraction of land. Barriers to, and incentives for, cover crop adoption are relatively unknown in this region. In addition, little is known about on-farm cover crop management and how producers make decisions about practices in the NGP. We mailed a 45-question survey to 500 randomly selected Montana producers in January 2015, obtaining a 40% response rate and an accuracy of ± 7%. Almost 30% of the respondents had grown cover crops and 92% of those plan to continue. There was an even split between those growing either single or mixed cover crop species, and legume biomass represented less than half of the cover crop biomass for the majority of respondents. Soil health and forage use were most often cited as reasons for planting, or considering planting, cover crops. While economic risk was the main reason for quitting growing cover crops, only 42% were aware that NRCS cost share payments were available, and only 28% had received NRCS payments for growing cover crops. Cover crop seeding time, termination time, and legume percentage in the mix affect subsequent crop yield and hence net return; however, actual practices often varied considerably from university – recommended practices. Management practices were chosen most often based on other producers' experiences and agricultural professionals' recommendations.  Those growing cover crops were willing to invest in cover crops for an average of about two years, with a maximum of six years. Since MSU research has shown that break-even periods for growing cover crops (in absence of grazing) are much longer than two years, these survey results demonstrate how critical it si to improve communication among researchers, policy makers, and farmers.