Cover crop establishment

Cover crops are an integral component of sustainable agroecosystems. Cover crop benefits are optimized within Conservation Agriculture systems that include (1) minimal soil disturbance; (2) permanent living vegetation or dead mulch on the soil surface; and (3) crop diversity, either in time or space. A fourth principle that is now widely considered as an additional opportunity to improve soil with Conservation Agriculture is livestock integration – especially grazing. Adding cover crops to existing cropping systems increases management complexity, with unique challenges for both establishment and termination. This is particularly the case in Conservation Agriculture because of the goal to maintain permanent crop residue cover at the soil surface. Management decisions about cover crops must consider both establishment and termination and must be balanced against other field operations needed for successful cash crop production. In this chapter, we discuss cover crop establishment, with a primary focus on grain production systems in temperate humid climates.