Researchers want to hear from area farmers about their experience with growing cover crops, even if they have none.
In partnership with agricultural organizations including the Grain Farmers of Ontario, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the University of Guelph and the province of Ontario, a survey is being circulated to gauge the benefits and challenges of cover crops.
Cover crops are planted for the benefit of the soil rather than for harvest as part of a crop rotation.
The survey is being coordinated by University of Manitoba PhD student Callum Morrison, who has been doing similar research in the prairies and is now working with the Ontario Cover Crop Steering Team. The team has launched the very first cover crop survey, named Ontario Cover Crop Feedback.
Data from the survey will be included in a report that will be circulated to farmers with the hope of informing industry, policy makers and farmers of the current situation of cover cropping in Ontario, and will also serve as research for Morrison’s thesis.
As of Tuesday, 310 Ontario farmers had responded; 241 reported having grown a cover crop and 69 had not.
“We’re equally interested in farmers who grew a cover crop so that we can determine why they [did]… but we’re equally as interested in those who didn’t grow cover crops so we can gauge what challenges limit cover crop use and also what could be done to enable those farmers possibly, if they chose to use cover crops in the future,” said Morrison.
Preliminary results show that the most common crop grown before the cover crop is winter wheat (66 per cent), followed by soy bean (24 per cent) and grain corn (16 per cent).
In terms of cover crops, oats is the most common (66 per cent), followed by fall rye (42 per cent) and radish (41 per cent).
“With cover crops, there’s dozens of species out there and each one does some tasks very well and other tasks not as well,” said Morrison, adding that farmers may choose specific crops to address the different types of soil and growing conditions on their farms.
Of those using cover crops, farmers report seeing improved soil health (71 per cent), less erosion (62 per cent), increased organic matter (56 per cent), increased infiltration, less weeds and more earthworms.
“It appears they are seeing benefits even quicker than I would have expected,” said Morrison. “About 45 per cent of farmers said they saw benefits from cover crops within the first year. That’s quite a lot. Sixteen per cent saw benefits after two years and 19 per cent saw benefits after years.”
He said farmers report the most common challenges with growing cover crops is late harvest of a cash crop preventing the planting of a cover crop (29 per cent), that the cover crop didn’t establish well (27 per cent), and additional costs incurred.
The team is hoping to hear more from Simcoe County farmers. The survey will be live throughout the month of March, at surveymonkey.com/r/OntarioCoverCrop. Participants will receive a final summary report.