Big Fixes
It takes the worst soil conditions to witness the best responses from cover cropping. At the other end of the spectrum, only the best agroecology will cash in, in the coming carbon economy.
Cover cropping means different things on different types of farms (learn more here). An individual cover crop’s degree of diversity and effectiveness in depositing carbon in the soil, usually depends upon the initial goal.
On a ranch, pasture species mixes are highly diverse. The goal is to optimize the volume, energy and nutritional value of feedstock for grazing livestock.
Within a cash crop, a cover ideally rounds out the species mix to include as many different types of plants as possible: grasses, brassicas, legumes, forbs, warm and cool season, annuals, biennials and perennials. The goal is to energize the microbiome to scavenge nutrients, providing fertility to the crop for free, resulting in improved production margins.
In a problem field, a cover crop’s purpose is to reverse issues such as soil salinity and herbicide-tolerant weeds. These are two of the most common problems for industrial farmland owners today, and as always, the more diverse the cover species mix, the more effective the cure.
Consider the following scenario:
Following many years of monocropping, deep tillage, and high-salt fertilizer applications, a farmer is facing the prospect of doing so once again in 2024 and losing money as a result.
Thanks to a few really profitable growing seasons in recent history, the farm still has decent cash flow.
Government programs will reimburse the full cost of sacrificing cash crop revenues in order to seed a field to a cover crop instead.
Do you see where things are heading? 2024 is shaping up the perfect storm of government payments, carbon programs, low commodity prices, rising cover crop seed prices, and widespread attention on soil health, creating a complete solution and a quick-fix for conventional croppers to try on a few fields.
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