The Midwest Cover Crops Council, in cooperation with Nebraska Extension, has published two new guides with recipes for integrating cover crops into more traditional crop rotations practiced in Nebraska.

"The guides offer a starting point for growers considering or just beginning to use cover crops," says Gary Lesoing, who co-authored the guides with Katja Koehler-Cole.

Lesoing, an Extension educator in southeast Nebraska, is Nebraska state coordinator for the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. Koehler-Cole is a research assistant professor in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The two guides address different years in the corn-soybean rotation.

"Planting a cover crop ahead of a soybean cash crop is often the easiest way to introduce cover crops into your rotation, and where a lot of growers might start," Koehler-Cole says.

The guides cover planning and preparation, fall work (timing and method of seeding, recommended seeding rates, fertility and more) and spring work (fertilizer, termination recommendations for different conditions).

The guides also offer resources for further information, including the Cover Crop Decision Tool developed by the Midwest Cover Crops Council to provide state-specific cover crop recommendations.

Source: UNL CropWatch, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.