Many benefits of a cover crop being integrated into a crop rotation are long term and multi-year. The longer the system is in place, the more resilient the soil and the more benefits are realized.

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.