Understanding the nutrient content of cover crops can be challenging because it depends on many different factors. Grasping everything that could affect the nutrient value of cover crops can be like trying to drink from a fire hose, says Jim Hoorman, but there are ways to simplify and understand how to determine what nutrients cover crops deliver to cash crops.

As Steve Frahm began adding acreage to his irrigated Ashland, Neb., farm more than a decade ago, one mounting challenge was finding the time and labor to continue ridge-tilling.