A cover crop road trip

April 7, 2022 | Kriss Nelson

See cover crops emerging this spring during a self-guided tour through Cherokee County.

The tour includes 20 locations, resulting from a collaborative effort between Ryan Johnson, Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) conservation agronomist, and Nick Livermore, Cherokee County district conservationist. 

Cover crop fields that are a part of the self-guided cover crop tour can be viewed now through June 1.

“I wanted the tour not only to be a way to help promote cover crops, but to give producers who may be contemplating using cover crops a simple way to look at how other farmers are making the practice work and find a similar approach that would fit their operation,” says Johnson.

Participants can follow a virtual map to the 20 locations featuring a variety of cover crop species all planted using different rates, dates and seeding methods.

“The tour gives them the background and information of each location to view on their own time,” says Johnson. “They will see a lot of fields where the cover crops are grazed. One field has cover crops drilled in areas prone to erosion instead of the entire field.”

The timing of the self-guided tour will also give viewers a firsthand look at cover crops being terminated and how a cash crop can be managed into cover crops.

For more information on the tour or learning more about cost-share funds available for implementing cover crops, contact Ryan Johnson at rjohnson@iasoybeans.com or 712-229-7184 and Nick Livermore at nicholas.livermore@usda.gov or 712-225-3769.

---

Back