The Midwest Cover Crops Council (MCCC), composed of representatives from 12 Midwest states and the province of Ontario, agricultural stakeholders and universities, including Purdue, is releasing a new edition of the Cover Crops Field Guide. The popular pocket-size in-field reference helps growers effectively select, grow and use cover crops.

Farmers with a certified organic diversified vegetable farm in South Carolina are seeing some success with using sunn hemp as a crimped cover crop to suppress weeds in fall brassica crops. Wild Hope Farm, located in Chester, S.C., received a Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SSARE) Producer Grant to explore summer cover crop mixes for organic no-till broccoli. Read more in this article from SARE.

Farm profitability from grain production is an age-old concern of farmers. Improving yield stability is also an important management strategy to counteract weather extremes (i.e., heat waves, droughts, flooding) that stress both crop growth and farm profitability. Farmers need reliable information about the effectiveness of crop rotation and fertilizer management that involves many years of data to account for the year-to-year variability in growing conditions. Read more in this article from University of Nebraska Extension.

Farmers had several state and national opportunities to receive payments or premiums from planting cover crops. Some deadlines are past, others have been extended. Farmers may want to review some of these programs and look at the current benefits from planting cover crops yet this fall. Read more in this article from Ohio's Country Journal.

Researchers at the University of Manitoba (UM) have shared the results from the 2020 Prairie Cover Crop Survey which capture a snapshot of the use and grower observations of this new practice. The report suggests that cover crops are becoming established in the Prairies and can be grown in a wide range of locations and environments across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Agricultural seeds and chemicals supplier Bayer AG is expanding its carbon farming program to members of U.S. farm cooperative CHS Inc, boosting incentives for members to participate in the program. The agreement will make it easier for CHS's 75,000 farmer-members to enroll in Bayer's Carbon Program, an early leader in the drive to encourage farmers to capture carbon by planting off-season crops, tilling the ground less and use fertilizer more efficiently. 

Pastures and hay meadows provide higher quality feed, are more productive and require fewer inputs when they have good forage legumes growing in them. Outside of moisture, nitrogen is often the limiting nutrient in pasture production. Read more in this article from University of Nebraska Extension.

Can winter field peas, planted in September and harvested the middle of the following summer (like winter wheat), work as part of the dryland cropping rotations? The question is being studied by the alternative crops breeding program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Panhandle Research and Extension Center at Scottsbluff.

Grower Mike Brocksmith, Vincennes, Ind., has used conservation tillage for nearly 45 years. During the 2021 Fall National Cover Crop Summit, he will discuss the changes his farm has seen since implementing cover crops in 2009, including changes to the soil and nutrient levels.