Cover Crops

Soy Envoy Brad Zimmerman explains how cover cropping has helped to keep the soil from crusting, improved water infiltration and helped control weeds, in addition to feeding the soil biology and sinking carbon back into the soil.

Soy Envoy Brad Zimmerman discusses the successful termination process for cereal rye in his latest ILSoyAdvisor blog.

What a long, strange trip it has been! I have been using cover crops for 8 years now in Central Illinois and it has been a very fun ride. Here are a few benefits and best practices I have learned about cover crops.

We all remember years when planting conditions were difficult due to excess moisture. Who could forget 2019, when it seemed the rain would never stop and many around the state and region dealt with delayed planting decisions? While we hope another year like 2019 never comes around again, it’s good to think ahead and plan for those “what if” scenarios. A wet spring can be even more nerve-wracking if you planted an overwintering cover crop and need to terminate it in order to plant your cash crop. What are some strategies to consider if you are confronted with this [...]

Updated from the 2019 edition and expanded to 16 pages, the new Guide encourages adopters to think a “systems” approach when it comes to cover crops as an integral part of a total crop rotation system. Cover crops should be considered to help reduce nutrient losses through tile drainage. Researchers from the University of Illinois, Illinois State University, Southern Illinois University, and Purdue University have been studying the various variables involved in a successful cover crop program. Research efforts are supported by Dan Schaefer with Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association (IFCA) and Eric Miller, a Piatt County farmer, who [...]

Submitted by Illinois Farm Bureau Cover crops are becoming increasingly popular to manage nutrients in a corn-soybean rotation. But they are not the only practice farmers can implement to enhance nutrient stewardship. In fact, there are multiple strategies that might fit your farm and magnify your impact. To shed light on some of these strategies, Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) sponsored a Nutrient Stewardship Grant Program that featured 21 projects across 28 counties this year. Several county Farm Bureaus hosted field days during the spring and summer to showcase how farmers can improve soil health and water quality to address [...]

This blog was originally published to the Biodiesel Sustainability Now website. In solving a puzzle, sometimes it’s the smallest pieces that can help complete the big picture. In the climate change puzzle, a once-underappreciated plant called pennycress just may prove itself a beneficial piece. As a plant that has spent most of its evolutionary history as a weed, pennycress is gaining new interest as an oilseed crop that can help us piece together solutions to many environmental challenges. This oilseed plant, with pods shaped like a penny, captured my interest as a scientist once I began to understand both [...]

I’ve always wanted pictures of a cover crop peeking out from underneath of a light blanket of sparkling white snow. It’s turned into a game of ‘caption this!’ – “cover crop under cover” or something else super cheesy. But really, it’s an instant visual story: a winter scene, a green crop gently flocked with snowflakes, green plants apparent where the wind had whipped the snow and left behind bare spots on the ground. It’s the perfect visual of life that messes with our standard notion of nature being dead and frozen in the winter.  A few weeks ago, I [...]