Giving Compass' Take:
- Dana Cronin examines a new study finding that cover crops can help slow climate change by preventing soil erosion, but few Corn Belt farmers are actually planting them.
- What implication does the low use of cover crops have for water and soil quality in the Corn Belt? What other conservation practices need to be implemented to reach net-zero emissions in agriculture?
- Read about how Illinois is getting farmers to plant cover crops.
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Amid a push from the Biden administration for U.S. agriculture to help slow climate change, a new study shows farmers in the Corn Belt are dropping the ball on adopting a climate-friendly practice.
A mountain of research shows the benefits of planting cover crops — from sequestering carbon from the environment to keeping waterways cleaner.
And yet, according to a new study from the Environmental Working Group, only 4.8% of corn and soybean acres across Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, and Minnesota have them.
The study utilized satellite imagery to track cover crop acres across the Corn Belt starting in 2015. It found that, while cover crop adoption has increased slightly since then, only one in 20 acres of corn and soybeans are currently protected by cover crops.
“Ideally, we'd like to see that number be much higher in all these states,” says Soren Rundquist, director of spatial analysis for the EWG and a lead researcher.
Read the full article about planting cover crops by Dana Cronin at Harvest Public Media.