As the old adage goes, “politics makes strange bedfellows”
and NAAA is encouraged by a recently released report by the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC) that touts the many environmental benefits of planting
cover crops in agriculture. The two organizations are usually at odds
with one another as the NRDC often takes positions in opposition to the use of
synthetic crop protection products, but a report released by NRDC last week on
the benefits of planting cover crops does support another type of aerial
application that our industry makes—the application of cover crop seeds.
The report “Climate-Ready
Soil: How Cover Crops Can Make Farms More Resilient to Extreme Weather Risks”
finds cover crops can suck tons of carbon pollution from the air, significantly
cut crop losses and prevent the loss of a trillion gallons of water. In fact,
planting cover crops on half the corn and soybean acres in the top 10
agricultural states (California, Iowa, Texas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois,
Kansas, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Indiana) could sequester more than
19 million metric tons of carbon annually – the equivalent of taking more than
4 million cars off the road, according to the report.
Farmers who used cover crops over the last three growing
seasons have consistently averaged higher yields than farmers who did not,
according to recent USDA surveys. The yield benefit from cover crops was most
pronounced in the areas hardest hit by the historic Midwest drought in 2012,
demonstrating the importance of cover crops in drought-proofing fields.
 that touts the many environmental benefits of planting cover crops in agriculture.){kind=small}
