By Andi Anderson
In a significant achievement for sustainable agriculture, Indiana farmers have broken a conservation record for the third consecutive year. The latest Conservation Tillage Transect survey reveals that 1.7 million acres of farmland are now under living cover across all crops in Indiana.
This milestone underscores the growing adoption of cover crops, driven by their benefits for soil health, water management, and overall farm productivity.
“Protecting soil, our most vital natural resource, is top of mind for our Indiana farmers and year after year our farmers are breaking their own conservation records,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “Through the implementation of cover crops and other conservation efforts, farmers are ensuring our land and water resources remain healthy and productive for years to come.”
Overwintering living covers, such as cover crops and small grains like wheat, offer numerous environmental benefits.
These crops help increase organic matter in the soil, improve soil health by adding living roots, and enhance water infiltration. Additionally, cover crops like legumes act as natural fertilizers.
The conservation transect does not differentiate between cover crops and small grains, but Indiana farmers typically plant fewer than 300,000 acres of small grains annually, indicating that cover crops dominate the 1.7 million acres.
Cover crops are usually planted in the fall after harvest to protect the soil and maintain roots in the ground throughout the winter, enhancing soil health and filtering water runoff.
“These results are very encouraging,” said Damarys Mortenson, state conservationist for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Indiana. “The adoption of cover crops on such a large scale indicates that farmers are recognizing the long-term benefits of these practices for both their land and the environment.”
Farmers like Todd Armstrong, who operates a 1,100-acre farm in Washington County, have seen the benefits of cover crops firsthand.
“The water holding capacity and tilth of the ground has just improved so much and my neighbors have even seen that,” said Armstrong. “Neighbors that worked ground every year have stopped and started incorporating cover crops because they’ve seen how good it has worked for us.”
As a result of the cover crops and other overwintering covers planted last year, it is estimated that 1.8 million tons of sediment were prevented from entering Indiana’s waterways, which would fill about 18.4 thousand train freight cars.
The conservation survey also showed that approximately 69% of row crop acres were not tilled, and about 17% employed reduced tillage over winter after the 2023 harvest. This early spring survey is not intended to quantify pre-planting tillage.
Despite the clear benefits, challenges to the widespread adoption of cover crops remain, including the initial cost of seeds and the need for additional management skills.
However, various federal and state programs offer financial incentives and technical assistance to help farmers incorporate cover crops.
One such initiative is the Cover Crop Premium Discount Program (CCPDP), which provides a discount on crop insurance for planting cover crops. CCPDP assisted landowners in planting about 19 thousand acres of cover crops in 2023.
The conservation transect is a visual survey of cropland conducted between March and May 2024 by members of the Indiana Conservation Partnership, including the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, Indiana’s Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Purdue Extension, and Earth Team volunteers, to showcase the state’s conservation efforts.
Photo Credit: gettyimages-mvburling
Categories: Indiana, Sustainable Agriculture