For 18 years, I’ve owned farmland with my two brothers and basically given it no thought other than when my check from the cash rent will be in my mailbox.

While my father was a farmer until I was about 10 years old and I often visited my grandparents’ farm and detassled corn, I never really did any farming. I never understood (because no one explained it to me) what went into farming. What choices did Dad and Grandpa make? I have no idea.

Since I started editing the copy in Farm World, my view of my farmland has changed. I want to know more about it. What is it doing? What are we growing? How are we farming?

I have become interested in cover crops. I keep reading about them, but had no idea what the term really meant. I decided to attend a cover crop seminar at the Indiana Farm Equipment and Technology Show in Indianapolis in early December.

I was absolutely fascinated. Nothing makes learning more fun than a good seminar with lots of visuals. Donald Donovan, Stephanie McLain and Travis Gogel, all of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Indiana, provided a great learning event that included more than 2 inches of rain, even though we were inside.

Basically what I took away from it was this: Healthy soil retains moisture which can help get plants through times of no rain. Healthy soil also traps moisture rather than crusting up on top. Hard soil allows rainwater to just run off and take both some topsoil and some valuable water away from the field. Cover crops can help create healthy soil.

Basically there are a lot of fun microscopic things living in healthy soil. These microscopic creatures release nutrients into the roots of the growing plants. When you have these microscopic organisms, you have biologically active soils. All of this makes the soil have more air in it, so when it does rain, the moisture has someplace to go.

The demonstration included some pans of soil; one was taken from a field with no cover crops and one was taken from a field with cover. Using a hose and a sprinkler system, the folks for the USDA were able to show what it would look like in both sections after 2.25 inches of rain fell.

In the section of dirt without cover crops, the bottom two-thirds of the soil received no moisture. All of the water ran off. In the section with a cover crop, the entire soil from top to bottom was wet and there was little runoff.

In the section with no cover crops, most of the water ended up rolling off the soil into a bucket. In the section with cover, most of the water was in a bucket under the pan, meaning the water had gone through the section of soil.

After the demo the pans were tipped on a tarp and folks could come up and look at the dirt. The non-cover crop section was dry with nothing living in it. The cover soil section had earthworms crawling about.

“A field with water in the profile is like having money in the bank,” McLain said. “Plant roots can tap into it.”

Being a non-farmer, I viewed this as amazing, and after the seminar my question was, “Why isn’t everyone planting cover crops?”

“You can’t be afraid of the coffee shop,” was the answer from Donovan. He said it is mainly about changing people’s minds and getting them to try something new. If a person has always farmed one way, then changing to something new is always going to be stressful and difficult.

Donovan said to think of it as an investment in my soil’s future health. The healthier my soil is, the better off my land will be in the long run.

I actually had no idea if any of my farm ground has cover crops. It turned out Donovan was from Parke County and he knew the answer; he said my ground doesn’t have them. I do have cover crops on one tiny portion of the land my brothers and I own, and that is because it is a field linked to my Aunt Nancy, who has cover crops on all of her property.

I was so excited about the seminar I texted one of my brothers and said I wanted to talk about having the people who farm our land look at cover crops. Then I found the real reason many people might not want to do this – my brother said we would get less money each year in rent.

I am okay with getting less money. I have two jobs that bring in enough to live on, so for me the farm rent isn’t something I need to survive. I would rather invest in making healthier soil for the future.

What do you think? How do you feel about cover crops? Shoot me an email at connie@farmworldonline.com