Jodi DeJong-Hughes, a soil health and tillage educator with the University of Minnesota, says it's important to build up carbon organic matter in fields to maintain healthy, sustainable soils.

One important benefit of cover crops to our production system is providing an alternative selection pressure on weed populations. Cereal rye has the best potential to suppress weeds because it accumulates more biomass than other cover crop species. Read more in this article from Iowa State University Extension.

Designing better roots is an important avenue to increase yield, reduce fertilizer use and promote soil health, says Larry York at the Noble Research Institute.

When thinking about crop covers you should consider a few things for fall herbicide treatment to help manage marestail.

A four-year University of Nebraska cover crop research project is exploring whether winter cover cropping in no-till corn and soybean systems can benefit soil quality despite their short growing season.

A study in Iowa funded by the United Soybean Board found that winter cereal rye that grew an extra 3 weeks prior to soybeans produced about 300-400% more biomass, with a 100% increase in nitrogen retention.