CTIC Cover Crop Survey 2019-2020 Shows Cover Crops Pay

Last year we encouraged farmers to participate in the on-line CTIC Cover Crop Survey from March 26-April 12, 2020. The results of the survey were published after the summer with 1,172 farmers from around the nation participating. Eighty one percent of the farmers were commodity crop farmers, with the balance being horticultural producers. Most respondents were from the Midwest, but there were also a significant number from Pennsylvania who responded. Farm size varied from 1 to >2000 acres, with more than 70% farming more than 180 acres.

The first and foremost reasons for using cover crops were soil structure/soil health improvement (94%), improved weed management (81%), soil erosion control (71%), improved infiltration (63%), and beneficial insects (49%), while improved insect or disease control (43%), better driving or walking surface (21%) and reduced dust (21%) were also mentioned as important reasons for using cover crops. On average, the farmers reported a slight (3 bu/A) yield improvement for both corn and soybeans after cover crops. More importantly, however, many farmers reported cost reductions, for example, 49% reported reduced fertilizer costs for corn, and 39% reduced corn herbicide costs, and 41% reduced soybeans herbicide costs. Further, 87% noticed soil improvement within 3 years after starting to use cover crops. It was interesting to see that 80% of the farmers reported that the cover crop seed cost less than $25/A, and about half only spent $11-$20 per acre on seed.

Cereal rye was the species used on most acres. However, many other species were used as well, and 76% of respondents used cover crop mixes in 2019 or planned to do so in 2020. Fifty percent of the farmers planted all their cover crops after main crop harvest, but the other half reported that they planted at least a portion of their cover crop acreage before main crop harvest. Forty-one percent of those who used interseeding would continue using it, while 45% were still experimenting with it, and 14% were disappointed with the results.

The survey asked special questions about the practice of 'planting green' into living cover crops and found that 53% of the farmers did practice it, and 21% doing it on >80% of their acreage! Many farmers (68%) reported that planting green improved moisture management, due to being able to get into the field earlier. In fact, 54% of respondents reported that they could plant their 'planted green' field earlier than other fields. Further, 71% reported that weed control was improved. Planting green was more commonly used for soybeans (53%) than corn (28%).

The cover crop survey provides valuable information about cover crop use and the results from practitioners show that many experience significant benefits from using them. The overall picture one gets is that cover crops do pay for themselves, because almost 50% of respondents did not get any government cost share for cover crops. The results of this survey are available at the CTIC website.

This work was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and McIntire-Stennis Appropriations under Project #PEN04600 Accession No. 1009362, by The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation under a subcontract from Capital RC&D, and by USDA-Agricultural Marketing Service grant AM190100XXXXXG167. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.