Another Reason For Cover Crops: Stop Nutrient Losses Into Streams

By Forrest Laws | Delta Farm Press

As if farmers needed more reasons for planting winter cover crops, University of Tennessee researchers have found another one – they appear to significantly reduce the amount of nutrients moving from their fields to nearby streams.

Using what is known as a Soil and Water Assessment Tool, scientists with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture have modeled what would happen if Tennessee soybean and corn farmers incorporated an unfertilized winter wheat cover crop into their annual crop rotations.

Shawn Hawkins, an associate professor in the Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science Department, and Hannah McClellan, a research associate working with Hawkins, used a SWAT water quality model to evaluate the nutrient load reduction for winter wheat cover crops on corn and soybean fields in both the Red River and South Fork of the Obion River watersheds in Tennessee.