Iowa Cover Crops Working Group

Purpose

The Iowa Cover Crops Working Group is part of the Midwest Cover Crops Council, which is a working group affiliated with part of Green Lands Blue Waters consortium. The mission of the MCCC is to significantly increase the amount of continuous living cover on the Upper Midwestern agricultural landscape.

The five-year goals of the Iowa Cover Crops Working Group are to

• Identify priorities and barriers to implementation of cover crops
• Design and establish mechanisms of communication
• Exchange cross-regional learning and innovation
• Provide a unified voice from academy, non-profit and industry sectors about the importance of cover crops and related innovations such as green manures
• Improve availability of funding to research these systems
• Offer a coordinated effort to use cover crops in systems
• Generate supportive policy at local, state and federal levels

As part of the MCCC, the 10-year goals are to

• Improve productivity and quality of crops, including vegetables, perennials, corn, soybeans, small grains, food grains, forages, biofuels, industrial uses, ornamentals, and multi-purpose crops by integrating cover crops into the systems
• Create reasonable cost of establishment
• Develop new plant materials
• Produce adequate seed supply
• Ensure availability and feasibility of technology and equipment
• Better integrate ecologies, economies and stewardship practices of urban and rural communities
• Facilitate policy change to support these aims

Working group resources

• Handout about Midwest Cover Crops Council online Cover Crop Selector Tool [PDF]
• Practices to Improve Water Quality highlights 11 conservation practices, including cover crops
• Cover Crop Business Directory lists sources in Iowa for seed, custom spraying and aerial application and equipment. Get the updated directory for 2012 here.
• Attitudes Toward Cover Crops in Iowa: Benefits and Barriers, March 2012 report of Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll survey data
• Cover Crops: Excellent Bang for Conservation Buck [PDF] Practical Farmers of Iowa flier
• Farmer-Determined Cover Crop Research Trials [PDF] Practical Farmers of Iowa flier
• View a photo slideshow from an April 2010 field day

Links we like

• Midwest Cover Crops Council, lots of news, resources and a decision tool for Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio, plus a cover crops selection tool for vegetable crops (based on Michigan data)
• Organic  Fertilizer and Cover Crop Calculator, online tool developed by Oregon State University to estimate the cost and nitrogen contribution of cover crops, compost and organic and synthetic fertlizers; accompanying fact sheet [Western SARE website]
• Resource web page, University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program
• Small Grain Cover Crops for Corn and Soybean, ISU Extension PM 1999
• Managing Cover Crops Profitably, 3rd Edition, Guide published by the USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program (free download)
• Overview of Cover Crops and Green Manures, Publication of the NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Project (free download)
• Cover Crop Database, searchable for more than 40 species used for cover crops, University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program
• 2005 Herbicide Manual for Ag Professionals WC-92, this online manual was profudced by Iowa State University Extension and the ISU Department of Agronomy
• Intercropping Winter Cereal Grains and Red Clover PM 2025, Iowa State University Extension publication

Presentations and other information

• Dealing with Drought Webinar Q&A [PDF], Answers to questions from presenters from August 20, 2012 CropLife Media Group Webinar
• Conserving Residual N with Cover Crops [PDF], overheads from August 29,2012 presentation by Tom Kaspar
• Environmental Benefits and Management of Small Grain Cover Crops in Corn-Soybean Rotations [PDF], Presentation that summarizes work in Iowa by Iowa State University, the Leopold Center, Practical Farmers of Iowa and the National Soil Tilth Laboratory (presented March 2007)
• Cover crops in the Corn Belt, Leopold Letter newsletter article about results of a survey of farmers in Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana regarding cover crop use
• Learning module on cover crops. These lessons, Small Grain Winter Cover Crops for Corn and Soybean, were developed for the ISU Crop Adviser Institute by Tom Kaspar and Jeremy Singer, USDA-ARS scientists at the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in Ames. Users can create a profile or log in as "test".