WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A new cover crop selection tool will help farmers select the right variety for their individual fields, according to the Midwest Cover Crops Council (MCCC). 

“This gives good information about the species that will fit each user’s unique situation – their rotations, timeframes and goals,” said Anna Morrow, MCCC program manager, and a staff member in Purdue University’s Department of Agronomy. “We’ve been able to give users a visual way to take in, and process that information.”

The MCCC is made up of representatives from 12 Midwest states and universities, including Purdue University, the province of Ontario and other agricultural stakeholders.

Funded by the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program and Grain Farmers of Ontario, the new tool has updated data for Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Ontario. North Dakota and South Dakota, which were not part of the original tool, have been added. 

The remaining four states – Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska – have been recently updated or added to the tool, and will be updated again over the next two years.

Morrow said users select their state/province and county, and then select the goals they have for cover crops – erosion control, nitrogen scavenger, fighting weeds, and providing forage, etc. 

The new tool can also provide information about the cash crops farmers are planting, and drainage data for their fields, offering the best cover crop options for the specified conditions. 

Moreover, clicking on the cover crops brings up data sheets that offer more information about each crop, seeding rates, and more.

She said the updated tool includes more accurate seeding dates for each county based on 30-year National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration frost date data; changes to seeding dates and rates to align with new research; and is now mobile-friendly, and complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“We met with farmers, researchers, government agencies, agribusiness leaders and stakeholders in all the states and provinces we represent to get the most up-to-date information available, and update the tool in ways that would be most beneficial for our users,” she said. 

“This tool is good for farmers who want to get started with or are currently using cover crops and need to get reliable, current information to help them make the best decisions for their operations,” she added.

Virgil Schmitt, Iowa State University (ISU) Extension field agronomist, said, “It is a great tool.”

“It makes farmers think about their goals; what do they want to accomplish with their cover crop?” he said. “It also takes into account local weather histories, and planting and harvesting dates of the main crop, and then selects the best options from among all of the options available.”

Mark Licht, ISU assistant professor of agronomy, and extension cropping systems specialist, said the new tool allows farmers to find the right cover crop species for their individualized operation, or cropping system. 

“A farmer can choose a goal, and get a list of species that will help meet that goal,” he said. “Then, it illustrates the best planting dates for those species, allowing the farmer to determine if a particular species will be suitable and match up with the rest of their crop management. 

“The tool also highlights higher-risk planting dates either because they are too early, or too late,” he added. “A tool like this is good because it takes away the one-size-fits-all approach. As many have discovered, adopting any type of cover crop is definitely not a one-size fits all practice.”

Schmitt said the only concern he has with the new tool is “it may prompt first-timers to try to do too much, too soon.” 

“First-timers should start slow (just a few acres), and simple,” he said. “Simple would be oats on land that will be corn the following year, and cereal rye on land that will be soybeans the following year.”