Loving this article from Sustainable Farming Magazine (a free online resource), https://agreenerworld.org/resources/sustainablefarmingmagazine/
Cover Crops are used to cover the soil in between crop harvests, and they have a lot of benefits to not only the soil, but environment, and sometimes other multiple uses. Here are a few examples:
Spring Oats- mobilizes phosphorus and provides forage for livestock.
Forage Rape- soaks up nitrogen left over from previous crop, high protein feed.
Tillage Radish- breaks through compaction layers in soil
Vetch- nitrogen fixer for next crop and protein source
Phacelia- scavenges excess phosphorus, conditions top 2-3 inches of soil Below are the specific benefits are detailed.
Cover Crops:
🐍 Feed Soil Organisms
💚Increase Earthworms
🍃Build soil carbon & OM
🌱Contribute to better management of soil nutrients
🙌 Keep soil covered
🐯Improve biodiversity
🌿Aerate, and help rain get into- soil
🏔Reduce compaction and improve structure and strength of soil
🐐 Make it easier to integrate livestock
🌊 Greatly reduce soil erosion and loss.
#regenerativeagriculture #covercrops #multiuse #sustainable #sustainableagriculture