Cover Crop : King Conservation District

Cover Crop Seed Cost-Share

Now Available from King Conservation District

Winter cover cropping has been added to the list of eligible practices for cost-share funding through KCD’s Landowner Incentive Program. KCD will reimburse farmers up to $135 per acre for the purchase of seeds for crops planted in late summer and/or early fall and maintained through the winter to protect soil when it would otherwise be bare. Cover crop cost-share contracts are written for three years and participating farmers will be reimbursed after each planting season.

Eligible cover crops include winter grains, clovers, vetch, field peas, mustards, turnips, and fava beans. The seeds can be sown in tilled fields or beneath standing late-season cash crops such as corn, winter squash and brassicas. Cover crops are planted to minimize erosion, increase organic matter, enhance soil fertility, smother weeds, and control soil-borne diseases. Cover crops such as red clover (which flowers in early spring), can also provide early forage for honeybees and other pollinators.

Cover Crop Cost-Share Announcement

Definition

Crops including grasses, legumes, and forbs for seasonal cover and other conservation purposes.

Purpose

Primary Purposes:	Secondary Purposes:
Reduce erosion from wind and water. Increase soil organic matter content. Capture and recycle or redistribute nutrients in the soil profile. Promote biological nitrogen fixation and reduce energy use.	Increase biodiversity. Suppress weeds. Manage soil moisture. Minimize and reduce soil compaction.

Practice Criteria:

This practice is meant for cover crops planted in late summer/early fall and maintained through the winter. Cooperators can apply for this practice one time only. Each application will cover 3 years of implementation. Cooperators will be reimbursed after each season of planting cover crops.

Resources:

All land managers in KCD’s service area are eligible to apply for cost-share funding, but the practice must be pre-approved and included in a Farm Conservation Plan or other technical assistance plan prepared by KCD resource conservation staff.

Cover Crop