Cover Crops
Cover
Crop Publications Columbia
Basin Cover Crops Choosing
a Cover Crop Costs
and Problems Benefits
of Cover Crops
Cover Crop Costs and Problems
Although there are numerous benefits of cover crops, you should also be aware of the costs and drawbacks of cover crop use.
Economic costs include seed, fertilizer, irrigation, and field operations. You should estimate these before you begin to use a cover crop and then weigh the total cost against the potential benefits. Because it is difficult to put a value on many of the benefits of cover crops, the “bottom line” will be subject to your systems needs, your goals, and your level of experience with cover crops.
If you have little experience with cover crops, you should try them at first on a small scale. This will give you the opportunity to see the benefits for yourself weigh them against the costs. Also, talk to others who have used the cover crop you are considering. Ask them about costs and benefits that they see. When using legumes, the value of the fixed nitrogen will often offset much of the production costs.
Finally, be sure to think about the long-term benefits of cover crops. The payoff may only come after several years of cover crop use in some cases.
Often, it will make sense to try to reduce the cost of growing a cover crop. You might think about trying to grow your own seed and/or reducing the seeding rates. Look at these methods of reducing potential economic risks of using cover crops.
There are also additional labor demands and the need for a higher level of management. Both of these demands may fall at a time when you are already busy with your main crops. Management is critical in using cover crops as their success often depends upon timing of planting and harvest, choice of cover crop, and their location in a cropping system. Labor may be short at a critical time for the cover crop. The demand for a high level of management is another reason to start small when using cover crops.
Other possible drawbacks of using cover crops are increased tillage, which is detrimental to soil quality, narrower planting and harvesting windows for main crops, nutrient immobilization, and increased pest problems.
The potential for increased insect and disease problems is region and cover crop specific. Therefore, before planting, check with our office or appropriate publication for your combination of region and cover crop.
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