A Cover Crop Selection Tool for Northeast US Farmers
The Northeast Cover Crops Council, in cooperation with Precision Sustainable Agriculture (PSA) host a Cover Crop Decision Support Tool that can help explore cover crop choices. The web-based app allows you to explore the function and characteristics of cover crop species suited to the Northeast and provides recommendations for cover crops based on user-defined inputs.
The Cover Crops Decision Support Tool is available through the Northeast Cover Crops Council, an organization formed in 2016 to support and promote the adoption of cover crops and foster the exchange of information and outcome-based research. The council is governed by a board representing universities, agri-business and farmers from Maine through Maryland and Delaware.
The tool was developed through the collaboration of experts throughout the Northeast and represents their collective knowledge and experience with cover crops. Collaborators evaluated each cover crop characteristic in the dataset via discussions in over 70 teleconferences in 2019 and 2020. Present and past collaborators from Penn State included Dr. Sjoerd Duiker, Dave Wilson and Zach Larson. Cover crop data for the tool was adapted from the Midwest Cover Crops Council species selector tool and was reviewed, modified, and expanded to match the Northeast's USDA plant hardiness zones and cropping systems. Additional data sources adapted for this tool include the USDA PLANTS database and a seeding rate calculator developed by USDA.
The tool features an explorer data set, where you can learn about the characteristics and benefits of 42 different cover crop and cash/cover crop species. A series of filters allow you to narrow the list based on environmental tolerances, weediness potential, growth characteristics, and seeding and termination methods. Information is on plating dates and rates are provided for each species as well as management information specific to each cover crop, including links to outside publications or articles.
The second part of the tool includes a species selector that allows you to pick cover crops that optimize your agronomic goals. Up to three goals can be selected. The information can be used to effectively select the ‘best fit’ species as well as species for cover crop mixes. This tool also includes side-by-side comparison features to help assess multiple species to determine what best fits your needs.
This tool is an excellent resource for anyone looking to try new or different cover crops. Â Knowing that the tool's information is vetted by experts and is regionally adapted means that recommendations will likely work on your farm. Now is a great time to utilize the cover crop selection tool and plan for fall cover crops.Â
An example of how to use the Cover Crop Selector Tool. Image Credit: Northeast Cover Crop Council
The NECCC tool is a result of a design collaboration between the Agricultural Informatics Lab, the Precision Sustainable Agriculture team, the NECCC, and the USDA. This material is based upon work supported by the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program (subaward # ENE 16-144), a USDA NIFA postdoctoral fellowship (grant # 2016-67012-24711), a NIFA SAS CAP grant (project # NC09873), a NIFA OREI grant (project # MD.W-2015-07406), USDA ARS and NRCS, and Purdue University.
