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.

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).

As corn and soybean reach maturity and the crop canopy starts to open, a prime window also opens for seeding a cover crop. A cover crop can be interseeded in the fall into standing corn and soybean via the air or with ground equipment such as a high-clearance seeder. Read more in this article from the Aberdeen News (Aberdeen, SD).

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.

Cover crops can provide benefits to crop fields by protecting the soil from wind and water erosion, keeping excessive fertilizer from leaving the field and improving the activity of soil microbiology. Cover crops can also provide forage for grazing livestock. Read more in this article from the Linn County Leader (Brookfield, MO).

Adding livestock to a cover crop system is considered the last step in bringing cover crops full circle in an operation. One Kansas grower and livestock producer shares insights from 35-plus years of no-till, 23 years of cover cropping and using livestock to increase his soil’s health and productivity while significantly reducing input costs.

Farmers around the world are keen to protect their most important asset: their soil. The soil supports and enriches their crops. But the relatively thin layer of topsoil can readily wash away into streams, carrying unwanted nutrients with it. Read more in this article from the American Society of Agronomy.

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.

Dairy operations typically have one primary goal: make as much milk as possible, since that is the product they are paid for. Miltrim Farms, a dairy based in Athens, Wis., seeks to not just produce large quantities of milk, but also to be good environmental stewards of the land and water.