New interactive tool helps farmers see costs and opportunities related to cover crops

May 5, 2021 | Bethany Baratta

The Iowa Soybean Association (ISA), as part of an Iowa Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) Conservation Innovation Grant, developed an online tool to show various management strategies that can make cover crops profitable. The Cover Crop Economic Simulator also helps farmers and landowners see the cost and income opportunities available by adding cover crops. 

Cover crops have the potential to be a financial asset for farmers when managed well, but not everyone has the time to sift through information to find real-world values and come to a bottom-line conclusion. This tool provides an easy starting point for those unfamiliar with cover crop management, as well as a useful platform for long-time cover crop beneficiaries. 

Access the Cover Crop Economic Simulator from the ISA website. There, you’ll find a “how to” video to assist you in using the tool and a simulator for you to adjust the default values to more closely match your own farm operation. 

The simulator tool is just one piece of a larger soil health test interpretation portal, which ISA’s analytics team is in the process of creating. 

Have additional questions? Contact ISA Analyst Suzanne Fey. 

This story was originally published in the Spring 2021 issue of the Iowa Soybean Review.

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