Performance and Roles lists ranges for N and dry matter production and ranks each cover crop's potential for providing 11 benefits. Cultural Traits and Planting explains the growth, environmental tolerances, seeding preferences and establishment costs for each crop. The chapters offer even more practical descriptions of how to plant, manage, kill and make the best use of each species. One of them may be right for your farm. With some particular cover crops in mind, step back and look at the big picture of how you can fit cover crops into your farming operations.
Several examples show how to fit crops to detailed situations.
Building Soil Fertility and Tilth shows how cover crops add organic matter and greater productivity to the biological, chemical and physical components of soil. Managing Pests with Cover Crops explores how cover crops change field environments to protect cash crops from insects, disease, weeds and nematodes. Crop Rotations explains how to integrate cover crops and cash crops in sequence from year to year for optimum productivity from on-farm resources. Citations Bibliography lists many of the publications and specialists cited in the book. Citations within the book are numbered in parentheses.