Adding value. It’s a hot topic in agriculture today. One of the best ways to add value to your row crop operation is by including cover crops in your rotation. The benefits cover crops can bring to your farm go beyond the obvious of adding diversity to your crop lineup farm. Maybe you need to suppress weeds or increase water infiltration and improve the soil profile. Growing cover crops can add value to your operation by helping make those improvements. Plus, cover crops can boost your stewardship efforts at the same time.

How you can get started growing cover crops

It might seem like the logical first step in growing cover crops is to purchase the seed. But your cover crop journey begins with determining the issues that might need to be addressed on your farm. Perhaps you have water and moisture management problems. Or you might need to adjust the atmospheric nitrogen in a field.

Once you have identified the challenges that need addressed, then see when the cover crop needs to be planted.

“Planting date is really going to define or restrict what cover crops are really going to work,” explains Zach Larson, a sustainable systems agronomy specialist with ForGround by Bayer.

Larson adds that staying within the recommended planting dates can help ensure a successful crop. A less than desirable outcome, even crop failure, is often realized when stretching planting dates beyond what is suggested.

Consider, too, whether you have the right tools or equipment on hand to seed the cover crop. You might need to adjust an existing planter. If you plan to broadcast seed rather than use a no-till drill, you’ll need to consider which species might work best for that.

Keep crop termination in mind as well. The goal should be to get the maximum amount of growth out of the cover crop species.

“Cover crops generally provide their maximum amount of function, whether it’s root growth, fixing nitrogen or even having that carbon pathway to promote the soil microbial activity, generally at flowering,” Larson says. “Cereal grains are going to generally flower the fastest, and then we see legumes and brassicas following those.”

What you need to know about cover crop selection

Cereal grains are among the most popular cover crops to grow because of ease to establish. Wheat, oats,cereal rye and barley are also affordable cover crop options. While it’s not a cereal grain, annual rye grass as a cover crop is known for its deep rooting abilities.

“All of your grasses are going to do well in capturing and cycling nitrogen,” Larson says. “Grasses are also excellent for erosion reduction.”

Legumes can provide benefits when grown as a cover crop. Clovers and more binding species like peas and vetch are good cover crop choices for fixing atmospheric nitrogen.

“Legumes really seem to do well and are noted for promoting a lot of biological diversity in the soil, often more than any of the other species,” Larson says.

Other cover crop options are popular broad leaf species like brassicas, including canola and radish. Both species are great options for putting a larger root in the ground, especially the radish. Canola and radish also are good choices for pulling up and cycling extra nitrogen in the soil following a cash crop like corn.

Cover crops provide additional opportunity to capture sunlight, allowing more time for biomass production, which helps add soil carbon stocks in the ground. Larson says a cover crop mix could be selected to address every challenge on your farm, but he recommends choosing one or two specific issues to address and then finding one species that can do that role effectively.

How you can address cover crop concerns

Water is key to plant growth, regardless of whether you’re growing row crops or cover crops. If adequate moisture is a limiting factor, you might be concerned that growing cover crops could deplete water availability for your cash crop.

According to Larson, for farmers in regions receiving minimal precipitation, 20 inches per year or less, growing cover crops could challenge water availability. In areas where water is more plentiful, concerns might occur on a year-to-year basis.

“If you have a dry spring, and you have a heavily growing cover crop or quickly growing cover crop, you certainly run that chance of depleting soil moisture,” Larson says.

Selecting the right cover crop is key, he adds. Not much is known about water consumption of each cover crop species. However, Larson says from a forage and cash crop standpoint, water consumption typically peaks when the cover crop reaches the flowering stage.

“Small grains are often very intense and water hungry,” he explains. “So, there’s a little bit less of a demand on some cover crops like legumes."

Cover crop maturity should be reviewed when water concerns might be an issue. “What makes small grains in particular a bit challenging is they consume more water to begin with because of early maturity and they often are terminated at a later stage of maturity,” Larson says.

He compares that to a legume cover crop which doesn’t consume as much water on the same calendar date because it isn’t as mature as the small grain crop would be.

Knowing soil moisture and looking ahead at the weather forecast can help you make decisions that adapt to field conditions.

“If you’re looking ahead at a dry spring, and you see your soil conditions being dry, you might want to make the decision to terminate early and shut those cover crops down,” Larson notes.

Or if soil conditions are wet, Larson says cover crops are an excellent way to help pull extra water out of the ground.

The bottom line is that cover crops can both help and challenge growers when it comes to water management.

“If you’re looking at cover crops that provide heavy residue cover and winter kill, such as oats or warm season grasses like sudangrasses or millets, give you a lot of advantage without having a spring moisture consumption risk," Larson says.

What can cover crops mean for your bottom line

With increased concern over rising input costs in farming, keeping a close eye on additional expenses is key for growers. Knowing the investment ahead of establishment can help you make proper adjustments to your production plan.

Larson says you can expect cereal grain cover crop seed, such as cereal rye or oats, to cost less than $20 per acre. Legume species and some mixed varieties could exceed $40 or $50 an acre to establish.

Fuel costs for almost every seeding practice should also be considered, but Larson says you can manage around that some if seeding directly with the combine.

“The fuel cost debate comes down more to whether you should broadcast or drill a cover crop,” Larson explains. “Legumes tend to perform better when drilled into the soil with good seed-to-soil contact.”

He recommends drilling more expensive cover crop species to help ensure the crop has opportunity to grow. In broadcast situations with seeds scattered across the surface of the ground, it’s possible the crop won’t have an opportunity to germinate.

Remember to include termination expenses in your budget, too. If chemical termination is required for the cover crop, herbicide costs should be reviewed. Additional fuel might be needed, too, if tillage is essential to terminate the crop.

Who you can count on for help with cover crops

University extension agronomists, soil health specialists and the sustainable systems agronomy team with ForGround by Bayer can provide insight and advice on your cover crop journey.

“The better growers understand what they want a cover crop to do and the function and limitations of each individual species, the better they can optimize the right species and keep their costs in line with what they want to do,” Larson says.

This article was written by Trust In Food in collaboration with Bayer.