Are Cover Crops Worth the Cost?

By: Raylene Nickel

When Brad Zimmerman decided to try growing cover crops 10 years ago, the Groveland, Illinois, corn and soybean farmer had a list of worries: “I was concerned about the cost, the time it would require, the possibility that the cover crop wasn’t going to grow, and the possible yield drag on my cash crops,” he says.

But Zimmerman reasoned that cover crops could improve the soil biology. This could improve his cropping system’s efficiency, thus reducing synthetic fertilizer inputs over the long term.