Cover crops can be integral to a vegetable grower’s production cycle for a number of reasons, including soil erosion reduction, weed control, and more. A new research project backed by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) aims to dig a little deeper by quantifying the nitrogen cycling benefits of cover crops across different organic vegetable production systems in Florida. Read more in this article from Growing Produce.

American Farmland Trust shares publicly its CaRPE Tool, a web-based interactive tool that allows users to quickly visualize and quantify net greenhouse gas, or GHG, emission reductions resulting from the implementation of cropland and grazing land management practices. The user can quantify the current use and impact of key regenerative practices and then estimate the potential to sequester more carbon if these practices are applied more broadly, given the specific farmland resources in a state or region.

In this video from the Ontario Ministry of Food, Agriculture & Rural Affairs, hear from a speaker lineup about topics including fall cover crops, visual evaluation of soil structure, manure application on forages, and more.

A survey by the P.E.I. Potato Board found a growing number of potato farmers in the province turning to a wide variety of cover crops to improve their soil and reduce erosion, and even generate some cash along the way. "The main goal of the survey was to get a benchmark for where we're at on cover crops," said Ryan Barrett, research and agronomy specialist with the P.E.I.Potato Board. Read more in this article from the CBC (Toronto, Ontario).

For Roger Bindl, farming is both an art and a science. He thrives on experimenting with his fields and figuring out what’s going to work best to achieve his goal of maximum soil protection. Read more in this story from the Wisconsin State Farmer.

Soil conservation efforts can help maintain healthy soils for thousands of years, in contrast to nearly a fifth of soils worldwide that have less than a century of life in them, according to a new study. The major new report from a global collaboration of scientists, including the UK’s Lancaster University, found that 90 percent of conventionally farmed soils were thinning, and 16 percent had lifespans of less than a century. Read more in this article from the Fresh Produce Journal.

Diversifying crop rotations can offer significant positive results, improving soil health and boosting biological activity and nutrient cycling. Cronin Farms, a no-till operation based near Gettysburg, S.D., has crop rotations down to a science, including forages and cover crops.

If you pick up just about any farm publication there are typically several articles that talk about soil health. Many times, these articles talk about adding cover crops and livestock into cropping systems to improve the soil. Read more in this article from the Dodge City Daily Globe (Dodge City, KS).

Anastasia Fyke doesn’t have time for millennials. Sort of. The fourth-generation buckwheat farmer from Manitoba (and a millennial herself) wants to help farmers transform agriculture from Canada’s sixth-largest greenhouse gas producer into a carbon sink. Read more in this article from The Humboldt Journal.

Results from a nearly 30-year ongoing study show that no-till agriculture produces improved crop yields over the long-term. The study shows two key results: Practicing no-till agriculture improves crop yield over time.