Dearborn County, Indiana

Cover Crops

Cover crops are crops grown between the regular crops like corn, soybean and wheat. Examples of cover crops are annual rye grass, crimson clover, oats, oil-seed radishes, and cereal rye. Cover crops are grown for a variety of reasons:

• Reducing soil compaction
• Covering the soil to protect it from erosion by wind and water
• Improving soil structure
• Increasing soil organic matter
• Fixing nitrogen
• Scavenging nitrogen from the soil that would otherwise be lost to percolation, runoff or volatilization
• Producing forage or pasture

•   SARE, Managing Cover Crops Profitably, https://www.sare.org/resources/managing-cover-crops-profitably-3rd-edition/
•   IN NRCS Soil Health Page, https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/in/soils/health/
•   IN NRCS Cover Crop Seed Calculator, https://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/references/public/IN/Indiana_Seeding_Tool_Seeding_Guidelines.pdf (PDF)
•   Purdue Extension Cover Crop Information, https://ag.purdue.edu/agry/extension/Pages/cover_crops.aspx
•   Midwest Cover Crops Council website, https://mccc.msu.edu/
•   Green Cover Seeds, www.greencover.com
•   Cover Crop Species (PDF)
•   Cover Crop Chart (PDF)
•   Grazing Cover Crops (PDF)
•   Cover Crop Forage Mixes

Visit Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative web site for more information and web links.

Under "Topics of Interest" (to the left) click on "Agriculture" for more ag related resources.

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Services

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Useful Links

Cover Crop Forage Mixes	Cover Crop Species	Grazing Cover Crops
Cover Crop Chart	Cover Crop Information	Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative