Donnelle Eller reported in Wednesday’s Des Moines Register that, “Cover crops, a weapon to prevent soil, nitrogen and phosphorus from leaving farm fields, grew on 2.6 percent of Iowa’s nearly 23 million acres of corn and soybeans last spring, a report released Wednesday says.
“By comparison, Indiana farmers had cover crops on 7.1 percent of their 11 million corn and soybean acres, and Illinois growers on 2.3 percent of nearly 21 million acres, says the Environmental Working Group and Practical Farmers of Iowa in their report looking at the three states.
“Iowa had 591,880 acres of cover crops; Indiana, 794,724; and Illinois, 488,626, based on satellite data looking at cover-crop growth between the fall of 2015 and spring 2016.”
Graph From The Des Moines Register.
The Register article added that, “The report said at its current pace, it could take the state at least three decades to reach a cover crop goal of 12.6 million acres.
“The cover-crop acres are part of one scenario outlined in the Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy to cut by 45 percent the nitrogen and phosphorus that leaves the state and contributes to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.”
