Equipment Planting
Online tool helps farmers select cover crops

Have you ever thought of having a cover crop on your field, but didn’t have the tools to figure out which crop would work best for your needs?

Michigan State University (MSU) Extension and the Midwest Cover Crops Council (MCCC) teamed up to release an online tool that assists farmers in deciding which cover crops will benefit their row crop rotation.

The MCCC Cover Crop Decision Tool is an initiative by the MCCC to consolidate cover crop information by state or province to help farmers make cover crop selections at the county level. A team of cover crop experts that includes university researchers, Extension educators, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) personnel, state departments of agriculture department personnel, crop advisors, seed suppliers and farmers develop information for each state or province.

A user selects his or her state or province and county. Users can also give information on their cash crops, including planting and harvest dates, field information such as the soil drainage class, artificial drainage or flooding, and desired cover crop benefits.

Designed to be user-friendly, dynamic interface allows users to immediately see how their input changes their cover crop options. A user can generate an information sheet for a selected cover crop that provides additional information and references relevant to application within the state or province.

The current version of the tool has been completed for Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while other states and provinces are presently developing their information. When completed, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ontario will be added to the web-based system.

Find the tool at http://mccc.msu.edu/SelectorTool/2011CCSelectorTool.pdf.