The Madison County Soil & Water Conservation District has received a grant to help implement the use of Cover Crops to improve soil quality, which will lead to increases in soil productivity.  There are many benefits concerning the use of cover crops that many producers are not aware of.

With the ever increasing cost of fertilizers, cover crops take up carbon, nitrogen and other nutrients in the fall after the harvest.  The plants will then hold the nutrients in the fields over the winter.  This leads to more nutrients in the soil during planting season that would, under normal circumstances, be reduced by runoff from the snow melt and spring rains.  Thus, fertilizer costs could be dramatically lower with the effective use of cover crops.

The root system of cover crops also has benefits.  The Madison County SWCD has witnessed these benefits.  By digging a pit in a field utilizing cover crops in the fall, the root structures were significantly better than a field without cover crops.  There were instances of cover crop roots as far as thirty to thirty-six inches below the soil surface.  This opens fissures for water and nutrients, as well as reducing the effect of compaction in the soils. 



The Madison County SWCD recently had a visit from Jerry Perkins, NRCS, regarding grazing management plans.  He was able to inform us the benefits of cover crops with pasture animals.  If cover crops can begin a good stand in the fall months, grazing animals will be able to feed in October, November and sometimes in December.  This could dramatically decrease the cost of feed during those months.

There are many other benefits with cover crops.  The Madison County SWCD and Conservation Technology Information Center is hosting a workshop to further educate producers on these benefits.  This includes speakers from NRCS, Michigan State University, and Purdue University.  The workshop will be on August 25th at the East Main Street Christian Church in Elwood.  Call the Madison County SWCD to reserve your spot, or check out http://www.conservationinformation.org/events/training.

Furthermore, the Madison County SWCD received a grant for promoting the use of cover crops.  Farmers will be offered a one-time payment of $500.00 to cover some of the costs associated with implementing the cover crops.  These participants will also be encouraged to sign up with the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s EQIP program that offers per acre payments for the fields using cover crops.  To find out more information on these offers, contact Steve Schmidt of the Madison County SWCD at (765) 644-4249.