A common question when incorporating cover crops into a production system is, will the cover crop interfere with the performance of residual herbicides included with the burndown treatment? This article from Iowa State University Extension will discuss the fate of residual herbicides applied to crop residue and living cover crops, and how this may influence herbicide effectiveness.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced a new pilot program that enables farmers in the Prairie Pothole region to receive payments for planting cover crops on their land for three to five years. The new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Soil Health and Income Protection Program (SHIPP) pilot is available to producers in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Experts at Kansas State University Extension review important considerations and guidelines from terminating cover crops properly, including NRCS rules and challenges that can be posted by herbicide programs.

In this episode of the Strip-Till Farmer podcast, brought to you by Topcon Agriculture, we're joined by John Pike, a former University of Illinois Extension educator, who shares some of the results and research-based advice for pairing targeted cover cropping with conservation tillage to maximize water and nutrient retention.

USDA officials held a conference call on July 25 announcing further details of the $16 billion package to support American farmers. One of the highlights was new information on the Market Facilitation Program (MFP).