Tom Oder is a writer, editor, and communication expert who specializes in sustainability and the environment with a sweet spot for urban agriculture. Just because winter is on the way in, your family ...

Cover crops are plants that are planted to cover the soil to keep it in place and improve soil health. They can be intercropped with other crops or planted after harvesting. The crops are mainly grown ...

Cover crops play an important role in protecting the soil and water when cash crops like corn or soybean are not actively growing. The National Conservation Service promoted the use of cover crops ...

When the Southern Cover Crops Council held its annual conference recently in Baton Rouge, I was fortunate to sit in on panel discussions with farmers and specialty crops (vegetables, fruits, nuts and ...

‘Prosperity,’ customer pressure help stir cover crop interest The ‘yo-yo’ principle of managing cover crops Is USDA overpromoting cover crops? This is the first part of a four-part series examining ...

Producers can break even in as little as two years But seed, planting costs challenge economics Landowners can frustrate farmers’ cover crop hopes This is the second part of our four-part series ...

Planting a multi-species mixture of cover crops -- rather than a cover crop monoculture -- between cash crops, provides increased agroecosystem services, or multifunctionality, according to ...

Only a fraction of conventional row crop farmers grow cover crops after harvest, but a new global analysis from the University of Illinois shows the practice can boost soil microbial abundance by 27%.

When Indiana farmer Jason Wykoff’s use of cover crops created challenges for his cash crop, he didn’t let setbacks deter his goal of improving soil health. He grows cover crops on one-third of his ...