AgCenter Field Day Focuses On Cover Crops

OLIVIA MCCLURE

ST. JOSEPH, LOUISIANA

   Cover crops and their many potential benefits to soil health took center stage at an LSU AgCenter field day March 2.

   The event, held at the AgCenter Northeast Research Station near St. Joseph, was supported by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation. Scientists spoke about the wide range of cover crop options available to farmers as well as how to manage them to realize improvements to the soil.

   Many plants – from cereal rye to clovers to radishes – can be used as cover crops, which are planted after harvest and terminated before planting cash crops in the spring. While they are in the field, cover crops protect the ground from wind and rain, limiting soil erosion.

   Beneath the soil surface, cover crops can offer additional advantages.

   “They help to cycle nutrients through the system,” explained AgCenter soil scientist Lisa Fultz. “They take up the calcium, magnesium, phosphorous and nitrogen that are all sitting in the soil, put it into the biomass and then redistribute it at the soil surface. That then can get recycled back into the system and made available for future plants.”

   Improving the soil’s nutrient makeup can also help with water management, said AgCenter conservation agronomist James Hendrix.

   “Because of the effectiveness of these cover crops in making a soil more permeable to rainfall events, you’re going to get better utilization,” Hendrix said. “Instead of runoff, you’re going to get better penetration of this rainfall.”1. LSU AgCenter conservation agronomist James Hendrix, left, speaks to attendees of a cover crop and soil health field day at the AgCenter Northeast Research Station on March 2, 2022.

OLIVIA MCCLURE: LSU AgCenter

 1. LSU AgCenter conservation agronomist James Hendrix, left, speaks to attendees of a cover crop and soil health

  field day at the AgCenter Northeast Research Station on March 2, 2022.

 Photos by Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter

 2. A mixture of cereal rye and hairy vetch planted as cover crops is seen at the AgCenter Northeast Research Station on March 2, 2022.

 3. LSU AgCenter weed scientist Donnie Miller, left, speaks to attendees of a cover crop and soil health field day at the

  AgCenter Northeast Research Station on March 2, 2022.