Farmers employ diverse cover crop management strategies to meet soil health goals. Issue 1 (9th April 2022) - Bowman, Maria
Abstract: Cover crops (CCs) were used on only ∼5% of harvested cropland in the United States in 2017. Lack of information about effective CC management and the costs and benefits of CCs may contribute to low adoption. We use CC management data from 112 farms in the Soil Health Partnership network (2015–2021) to characterize CC management practices and costs. Soil Health Partnership farmers spent a median of US$98.84 per hectare to plant CCs on trial fields in the 2021 crop year, and costs varied with management practices. Farmers also experimented with CC management practices; more than half of 100 farmers providing panel data used more than one seeding method, and the share "planting green" increased over time. This diversity of CC management practices, heterogeneity in costs (and benefits), and experimentation process—among other factors—may make it challenging for farmers to develop expectations about whether CCs will be profitable on their farm in the short, medium, or long‐run. Core Ideas: Farmers vary cover crop management practices to adapt cover crops to their management system. Heterogeneity in cover crop management practices can affect the costs and returns of cover cropping. Variable profitability makes it difficult for farmers to develop expectations about cover crop outcomes. Experimentation with cover crop management practices is common for new adopters.