Seeds from a Small Town Plant Hope 🌱

How Green Cover is (re)covering bare soils nationwide.

Author

Mitch Hinrichs
May 24, 2024

Read Time: 4 minutes

My first introduction to cover cropping was when my dad and uncle planted daikon radishes in one of their fields following soybeans to help break up compaction. Seeing these gigantic radishes emerge from tiny seeds and seemingly split the ground was miraculous.

And seeing something else growing besides corn and soy excited me.

They purchased this seed from a local seed business based 30 miles away. Since then, Green Cover has grown from a small family business in rural Nebraska into one of America's largest cover crop seed companies, servicing tens of thousands of farmers and ranchers.

From Humble Beginnings to Hopeful Ambitions

In 2008, Keith Berns and his brother Brian started experimenting with cover crops on their farm, curious about how to decrease water usage.

Brian and Keith Berns observe cover crops in their fields.

The initial results were so promising that the following year they founded Green Cover to service cover crop seeds to farmers in the area, hoping to help them increase water infiltration and organic matter while improving soil structure.

Right Place Right Time

Since the conception of Green Cover, cover crops have increased significantly. According to USDA Census of Agriculture surveys, the adoption of cover crops on farms of all sizes and types has increased steadily, from an estimated 10 million acres in 2012 to 20 million in 2020.

Green Cover’s facilities located in Bladen, Nebraska.

Green Cover saw the benefits firsthand on their farm and realized that farms of all shapes and sizes would also benefit. Farmers just needed access to diverse varieties of seeds and knowledge of how to apply them properly.

Leading with Education

Much of my regenerative learning journey started by reading Green Cover’s annual Soil Health Resource Guides and attending their summer field days, where their cover crop plots are on display, discussing each variety’s use case and comparing monoculture plantings to diverse mixes.

I’ve always admired their dedication to education and research, realizing that cover crop application varies immensely across various farming modalities.

They’ve amassed an invaluable library of webinars, interviews, and resources that are freely available for anyone interested in deepening their understanding of soil health and cover crops, to empower them to adopt regenerative agriculture on their farms.

(re)Covering Farmland Across America

Successful Cover Crop Stories

Rick Clark, a customer of Green Cover, has successfully integrated cover crops into his 7,000-acre no-till, organic row crop farm. Cover crops are crucial in his weed mitigation, fertility, and the biological engine that has allowed him to wean off his dependence on synthetic and chemical inputs.

Rick Clark crimping rye cover crop with soybeans at V2 stage

This has created a much more profitable operation and proves that regenerative agriculture can be applied at scale, profitably and successfully.

Cost Share Programs

Now, farmers around the country are beginning to explore cover crops more seriously, partly due to the growing number of cost-share programs available through the USDA NRCS and Climate Smart Commodity Programs.

Cover crops protect the health of the Chesapeake Bay downstream.

Maryland has successfully implemented a statewide cover crop cost-share program, resulting in massive adoption and retention across acres statewide. This program is funded by the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund and the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, from which their state derives much value.

How Farmers Can (re)Cover Their Land?

Creating a Cover Crop Plan

Remembering the first of the six soil health principles, which is knowing your context, is essential to understanding how and where cover crops fit into farms.

Applying practices to your farm operation doesn’t necessarily make them regenerative. In the wrong context, they can create the opposite desired effect. It’s important to realize that cover crops are a tool, which needs to be used at the correct instance to have a regenerative outcome and deliver all of the benefits associated with improving soil health.

Smart Mix Calculator

Green Cover created a tool to help farmers gain clarity and insights regarding cover crops. Their Smart Mix Calculator allows farmers to plug in their context—zip code, which calculates annual rainfall estimates, estimated acres they’ll plant, the following cash crop, seeding method, and desired goals (nitrogen fixation, erosion control, compaction issues, supplemental grazing, or stockpiling for winter, etc.)—and then gives them a variety of cover crop suggestions and rates that fit into their rotation.

Green Cover’s Smart Mix Calculator

Tools like these are invaluable in removing the guesswork for farmers who want to introduce cover crops and improve their soils. Alongside cost-share programs that alleviate the initial costs of the seed, we can expect to see the number of farmland acres using cover crops across the United States continue to increase dramatically.

Cover Crops Make Sense, But Do They Make Cents?

Last week, a LinkedIn post I published sparked a meaningful discussion on whether regenerative agriculture makes farmers money.

These principles and practices make obvious sense on their own, but the big question for farmers is, “Do they help make my farm more profitable?”

If they don’t, they most likely won’t be adopted because farmers have immediate economic pressures to attend to that supersede, which some would consider “doing the right thing.”

Keith Berns discussed this topic at a recent event Green Cover hosted, whether or not regenerative agriculture makes sense AND cents.

More and more evidence and research show that regenerative agriculture is a more profitable way to farm while providing consumers with ecological restoration and nutrient-dense foods.

Green Cover is leading the way by providing farmers with a diverse array of cover crop species and providing growers with the resources to be successful.

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