A three-year break-even is typical, but certain field conditions and farm practices can move your ROI into the black sooner.

Prioritize specific agronomic outcomes—like erosion control or nitrogen fixation—before opening the seed catalog.

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... For an Earth-friendly garden, keep a succession of plants in the soil by planting cover crops. These are plants grown to improve the soil rather than for ...

Bare garden beds look tidy. But every day that soil sits exposed and empty, something is going wrong underneath, and most gardeners have no idea it's happening. When soil goes uncovered, it loses ...

When the Southern Cover Crops Council held its annual conference recently in Baton Rouge, I was fortunate to sit in on panel discussions with farmers and specialty crops (vegetables, fruits, nuts and ...

Cover crops are plants that are planted to cover the soil to keep it in place and improve soil health. They can be intercropped with other crops or planted after harvesting. The crops are mainly grown ...

Cover crops play an important role in protecting the soil and water when cash crops like corn or soybean are not actively growing. The National Conservation Service promoted the use of cover crops ...

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 ...

One of the tasks you can complete before spring is planting cover crops. February is a perfect time to broadcast some seeds and coat the ground with plants that benefit the soil in the long run. The ...

Harold Dueck sees cover crops as a necessity in his cotton fields to protect the fragile cotton seedlings from the harsh and unpredictable west Texas winds. But in the dry climate of Gaines County, he ...

The 2023 Farm Bill, under consideration in Congress, could reshape agricultural policy by shifting federal resources to encourage farmers and ranchers to practice healthy soil management techniques.