If you are beginning or finishing up harvest already for your cash crops, it's not too late to plant cover crops, says Sarah Carlson. By incorporating more "green" plants into the "brown" months, you can help keep soils covered through the winter and during vulnerable times of the year. Cover crops are an important tool farmers may use to retain nitrogen and soil on their farm fields.

Carlson is research director for Practical Farmers of Iowa and has worked with a number of farmers the past several years using various cover crops and trying out related management practices. She offers the following observations and suggestions, along with her Top 10 Tips For Cover Crop Management. Contact her at 515-232-5661 or [email protected] if you have questions.

In natural ecosystems, most of the time the ground is not frozen and there are plants growing, recycling water and nutrients, and fixing carbon, or at the least they are covering the soil. Research indicates multiple benefits from the use of cover crops in annual cropping systems.

The Midwest agricultural landscapes which are dominated by corn and soybeans, however, typically only have plants growing for four to six months of the year and often are tilled between harvest and planting. This period without living plants leaves the soil, nutrients and water exposed and unprotected for up to eight months.

Why is it a good idea for farmers to plant cover crops?

Putting more "green" plants into the "brown" months will help protect soil and water quality and maintain natural cycles for water, carbon, nutrients and soil organisms now and in the future. This can be accomplished by growing winter cover crops in the months between harvest and planting of corn and soybean.

Even with these benefits to the soil and water, many farmers are hesitant to add cover crops to their farming system but with good management, this practice can successfully be added to farms in Iowa.

Top 10 management tips for cover crops