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Cover crop adoption remains strong despite economic uncertainty

An ag economist says cover crop adoption remains strong despite economic uncertainty.

Michael Langemeier says the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer shows survey respondents are using an average of 42 percent of their acres for cover crops.

“There’s still quite a few producers that are just starting cover crops with less than five years of adoption,” he says. “There’s also of course, producers where they’ve been doing this 20 plus years, but the average is right around 10 years.”

He tells Brownfield adoption is high, but retention is a problem.

“Maybe they’ll get some incentive payments to try cover crops, and it doesn’t work out,” he says. “There’s been quite a bit of this adoption over the years with cover crops. With this survey, it’s about 20 percent of producers that used cover crops in the past that are currently not using them.”

Langemeier says nearly 25 percent of producers surveyed have never used cover crops on their operation.

The Barometer is a nationwide measure of the health of the U.S. agricultural economy and surveys 400 agricultural producers on economic sentiment each month.

AUDIO: Michael Langemeier, Purdue University