Teaching the Good and Bad of Cover Crops
Agronomy & Pest Management
Bill Burdine
Agronomy Specialist
Mississippi State University
Verona
Abstract
This statewide program is designed to educate Extension agents, USDA staff, and mentor farmers on cover crop benefits in row crops, vegetable crops, and sweet potato. Main objectives are to increase basic knowledge of cover crops; improve comfort level of people influencing farmer decisions; demonstrate crop management and termination methods; and disseminate information helpful in making management decisions. A key focus is to highlight positive and negative aspects of incorporating cover crops into any management plant. Demonstration plots are established at multiple locations across Mississippi and are the cornerstone of field days and other training events. Field days begin with a classroom style setting to discuss basic information such as: soil health, water quality, species attributes, establishment methods and potential insect and nematode issues. In-the-field training offers walking discussions on 40 plots of various cover crop mixes and field equipment. Attendees were provided with thumb-drives containing related journal and trade articles. A pre/post assessment as a single survey was used to evaluate each field day. When asked if cover crop benefits justify expenses, only 29% strongly agreed pre-training but 70% strongly agreed after training. Similarly, 19% strongly agreed to being comfortable recommending cover crops but 63% strongly agreed post-training. Majority of attendees were likely to: use cover crops (73%), recommend cover crops (72%), and to host demonstration plots (75%). Respondents estimated maximum cost-per-acre to justify cover crops between $5 and $200. This was highly dependent on next cash crop with agronomic crops being much lower than high-value horticulture crops.
Authors: Bill Burdine
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Bill Burdine Agronomy Specialist, Mississippi State University, Mississippi, 38879