Drought- Soil Impact
By: Tony Grant
Updated: August 10, 2012
This Summers drought has caused major economical problems for farmers all across the country.
And to help give next year's crop a fighting chance, the Natural Resource Conservation Service recommends the use of cover crops.
Cover crops are native plants that root deep into the soil and give planted crops a place to grow inside.
This year's mild winter and warm spring followed by the current drought caused major problems for cover crops.
Most cover crops came early and many plants that weren't supposed to survive the winter did.
And farmers that killed cover crops early ahead of corn may see the benefit of that decision.
Eddy Adams- NRCS
"We can help continue to maybe bring the soil back alive. We know a lot of microbial activity has moved down deeper into the soils...trying to survive. It's not necessarily a dead on the surface but we know it's tight. It's extremely dry and any life that's there to help feed crops the nutrients that they need, can be recycled through the use of cover crops."
Adams suggests using plants like turnips and radishes for your cover crops.
And to help give next year's crop a fighting chance, the Natural Resource Conservation Service recommends the use of cover crops.
Cover crops are native plants that root deep into the soil and give planted crops a place to grow inside.
This year's mild winter and warm spring followed by the current drought caused major problems for cover crops.
Most cover crops came early and many plants that weren't supposed to survive the winter did.
And farmers that killed cover crops early ahead of corn may see the benefit of that decision.
Eddy Adams- NRCS
"We can help continue to maybe bring the soil back alive. We know a lot of microbial activity has moved down deeper into the soils...trying to survive. It's not necessarily a dead on the surface but we know it's tight. It's extremely dry and any life that's there to help feed crops the nutrients that they need, can be recycled through the use of cover crops."
Adams suggests using plants like turnips and radishes for your cover crops.
