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Why Is Cover Agriculture Important?

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Agriculture is improving all the time. From pushing around dirt to changing microscopic organisms, there are many different beliefs in the way things should be done. A more recent discovery is how planting small crops in the off-season benefit the normal crops. These crops can be turnips, radishes, rye, and many more. These plants are called cover crop, and while some people think they are not useful, I conducted an interview with Bob Rikli to find out what opinion he had on it. The three main points that I focused on were, how much the cover crop benefits the yields by, whether or not it is worth the cost, and how much can it help the environment. Some people may think that growing another crop in the field would hurt the main crop. According to Bob Rikli, the additional crop actually benefits corn yields by 6-10 bushels per acre when it is fully established. The plant begins growth a little bit before harvest and is sprayed off before or after planting. The cover crop decomposes giving the soil extra nutrients and other necessary minerals for growth. Not only does it help improve income, but it also helps decrease expenses. …show more content…

With these prices, anything that saves money is very useful. Cover crop does not cost very much in seed, and it grows back every year. When I asked if it is worth the cost, Bob told me it is in ways such as, it keeps weeds down so you don’t need to spray, it preserves the soil and keeps the nutrients in, and it captures fertilizer so it doesn’t go somewhere it isn’t wanted. With a 6-10 yield increase it can provide up to $40 extra an acre, which can go a long way. These reasons still may not attract some people to the idea, so my third and final question was how can it protect the

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