It keeps forages in the rotation on the years he breaks up hay crops. The cover crop takes 55 to 60 days to maturity, ready for silage or greenfeed, but some farmers leave the crop until 75 days ...

In short-season regions, the window between harvest and first frost is tight. That makes it critical to know when to plant a ...

Cover crops offer big benefits—but poor species choices could risk disease, weeds, and your next harvest. Here's how to get them right.

Open just about any U.S. farming publication and you won’t read for long before seeing the words “cover crop.” There’s been an explosion of interest in the practice of sowing a cheap mixture of seed ...

The microbiology To understand cover crops, it’s necessary to know how life functions, above and below the ground. Plants and soil microbiology have a symbiotic relationship. “Plants convert CO², ...

As global human populations surge and climate volatility intensifies, the pressure on South Africa’s agriculture sector ...

If you want to make your soils healthier, the best place to start is usually with cover crops. Not only can they boost your soil’s biological activity, they can also improve your bottom line.

The principle is the same as with any cover crop: protect the soil while adding some nitrogen for the following crop. But the addition of manure after corn silage provides the added benefit of ...

“We now do about half and half of each.” A simple turnip-based mix is about £13/ha, while the six-species cover crop made by mixing single species on farm, rather than buying a ready-made mix ...

There are two main treatments at each site — a four-year annual crop rotation that includes cover crops and the same rotation without cover crops. Third and fourth treatments will act as checks and ...

Diverse crop rotations can benefit the performance of individual crops and the total performance of the rotation when growing conditions are difficult, says a new study from the U.S. Department of ...