National cover crop survey closes April 2

Time is running out for growers to share their thoughts about cover crops in a national survey.

The National Cover Crop Survey, being conducted by the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC), the USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Program, and the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA), is available online until April 2. Responses are anonymous.

This is the eighth survey in the research series, which began in 2012.

“This year, we are equally interested in not only hearing from farmers who are actively using cover crops, but also from those who no longer use them and who have never planted them at all,” Ryan Heiniger, CTIC executive director and a fourth-generation Iowa farmer and cover crop user, said in a news release. “Additionally and new this year, we’ve added more questions about grazing livestock on cover crops to explore return on investment and the practice’s potential as a contributing solution to help rebuild the nation’s cattle herds.”

Rob Myers, a University of Missouri professor and regional director of the North Central Region SARE Project, said information from the surveys has powerful impact, calling it “a tool that helps policy makers, agribusiness, commodity organizations, cover crop advocates, farmers and others understand how farmers think about cover crops and make decisions around adopting the practice. Previous surveys have been used in Congressional testimony, cited in academic research, used by educators to help share information to help farmers succeed with cover crops, and more.”

Andy LaVigne, president and CEO of ASTA, said cover crop surveys help seed companies predict market demand for cover crop seed and spot trends in the use of various cover crop species. That helps seed growers supply the steadily evolving market for cover crop seed.

Past survey results are available online.