As harvest approaches, it’s the right time to think about planting a cover crop. Cover crops are grown by farmers across Ontario, supporting healthier soil year after year. Whether your goal is to underseed red clover in winter wheat, plant late season oats for feed, or use coverage to prevent erosion—there’s a cover crop option for every field.
Cover crops offer advantages to your farm and the environment, most resulting from healthier soil. Cover crops increase filtration, conserve moisture, protect water quality and reduce erosion. This means less flooding, leaching and runoff, and more organic matter, beneficial microbes, and nutrient retention. Healthier soil produces healthier crops.
Cover crops can also combat weeds and break disease cycles, reducing the need for pesticides. By choosing a nitrogen-fixer, you can also boost fertility for the next crop, cutting fertilizer costs. On top of the benefits to your farm, cover crops also support a healthier environment, increasing biodiversity and creating habitat for wildlife, honeybees and beneficial insects.
There are many cover crop options with unique attributes. Start by evaluating the impact as you would any other crop, balancing costs and returns. Cover crops can be harvested for forage, grazing or seed. Also consider indirect benefits, such as the value healthier soil has over the long haul. Consider the following.
Goals: Select one or two, such as: erosion protection, forage for grazing, or nitrogen fixation, or others.
Growth habit: Consider whether you need a crop that is deeply rooted, low growing, spreading or tall; and whether it grows vigorously in fall or spring.
Niche and traits: Consider your moisture and temperature conditions. What traits will it need to grow well in your conditions?
Planting and nutrition: What is the best way to plant it, and do you have the necessary equipment? Is it a nitrogen fixer or will it require added fertility?
Herbicide sensitivity: How sensitive is it to herbicide residues from previous crops in your rotation?
