Cover crops have many benefits for farmers, including erosion control, weed suppression, and feeding the food soil web. Cover crops also play an important role in fertility, particularly for nitrogen. One of the challenges facing farmers who use cover crops is quantifying the available nitrogen supplies to the following cash crop by the decomposing cover crop residues and how they might change their fertilizer management to account for this. This publication is intended to educate farmers on the nitrogen cycle, cover crops, and nitrogen; how nitrogen is released from cover crops; and the new Cover Crop Nitrogen Availability Calculator, including the steps necessary to use the Calculator.
Status and Revision History
Published on Nov 22, 2016