Researchers from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and North Carolina State University have developed a new programming model to help farmers predict the best times to plant cover crops. 

Depending on soil conditions and fertilizer prices, growing plants during the off-season can be a great long-term investment. 

While cover crops offer advantages such as improved soil health, reduced erosion, and a lower need for chemical fertilizers, some farmers are hesitant to plant them due to the upfront costs and uncertainty about whether the investment will pay off. 

But the researchers' model could change that if farmers are confident that they can make a profit. 

According to a NC State news release on the study, which was published in the European Review of Agricultural Economics, the model is based on data from a 35-year cotton farm experiment in western Tennessee and accounts for the impacts on soil health, fluctuating fertilizer and cash crop prices, as well as the timing of planting seasonal crops. 

After analyzing the data, the model can estimate whether farmers will see favorable returns.

The team noted that cover crops make the most sense on farms with healthy soil where no-till production systems have been used. Additionally, if fertilizer costs are high, planting crops between seasons can reduce expenses for chemical inputs, as some crops, such as hairy vetch and crimson clover, naturally convert nitrogen into a form that plants can use. 

Cover crops also improve soil health by absorbing excess nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, from the soil, thereby preventing them from being leached away or lost through erosion. When the crops die, these nutrients are released back into the soil to benefit the following cash crop. 

Another advantage seasonal crops provide is that their roots create channels in the soil, allowing water to penetrate more easily. This provides plants with the resources they need to thrive while preventing runoff. 

Despite the numerous benefits of planting cover crops, NC State noted that only around 4% of farmers in the United States adopt this practice, likely because of concerns about costs. 

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"There is a lot of academic literature looking at short-term effects of cover crops, but our contribution here is in thinking about cover crops as a long-term investment," Rod Rejesus, professor and extension specialist in NC State's department of agricultural and resource economics and a co-author of the study, said. 

While the study found that on fields with poor soil health that had been tilled, the benefit of cover crops likely wouldn't offset the costs — at least in the short term — researchers said that it would take time to notice the many benefits associated with planting clover, legumes, and other seasonal plants. 

"The more you use cover crops, the fewer fertilizer inputs are needed," Zachary Brown, associate professor of agricultural and resource economics at NC State and a co-author of the paper, said. "That effect also increased over time. So, the longer you used cover crops, the more they were able to offset nitrogen fertilizer."

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