Learn More About Cover Crops
What is a Cover Crop? Cover crops are plants that provide multiple benefits in a cropping system generally planted after the primary crop has been harvested.
Benefits of Cover Crops
Cover Crops provide a multitude of benefits which include the prevention of erosion, improve soil’s physical and biological properties, replace nutrients in the soil, suppress weeds, improves the availability of water in soil, and break pest cycles along with many other benefits. The species of cover crop selected along with its management determine the benefits and returns.
Some popular planting methods include traditional planter planting, aerial seeding, and broad cast seeding depending upon the type of seed being planted. Get more information from NRCS about cover crop selection, termination, and planting guides.
NRCS EQIP Cover Crop Program
The NRCS Disaster Recovery EQIP funding opportunity to plant cover crops on flooded cropland acreage. The sign-up begins July 1 and continues until the funding is exhausted.
MWCD Cover Crop Cost Share Program
The 2023 Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District Cover Crop Program is offering $12.00/acre with a cap of 200 approved acres per applicant across eligible counties in the jurisdictional boundary of the MWCD District unless fields are located within one of the specified MWCD Lake watersheds. For more information, contact Matt Wallace.
Ohio State University Cover Crop Information
This resource provides some of the positives and negatives associated with an extensive list of cover crops we see in Ohio.
***Please Note, the disclaimer in the Fact Sheets that some of the seeding rates and dates may be slightly different than Appendix A. Producers need to follow Appendix A for H2Ohio, EQIP, and other cost-share programs.
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