Farmers have long debated which practices do the most to keep their soil healthy. Now, after pulling data from 21 long-term ...

Maybe after you finish your vegetable harvest, you mentally say, “I’m done this year,” and wait to start again next year. But a cover crop could benefit you in several ways. By researching now, you ...

A field planted with cereal rye, one of the most common cover crops in Iowa. Photo by Ally Larson/Iowa State University. AMES, Iowa – Planting ground cover in fields between cash crop growing seasons ...

Cover crops provide benefits to vegetable farms of all sizes in addition to larger-scale contributions to the public good. Reduced tillage systems can provide additional soil health benefits. Many ...

Winter can be brutal on your garden soil. What was once rich, lively earth can turn into a hard, lifeless slab by the time spring arrives. But there’s hope—and it comes in the form of a cover crop ...

What’s cover cropping all about, anyway? As with many eco initiatives, what was old is new again: Cover crops (or fallow season plantings; see more below) were first used during the Roman Empire as a ...

No matter the type of farm, there’s an advantage to planting soil-feeding cover crops ahead of fall and winter. The assistance provided depends on the crops you plant. But there is definitely one out ...