Continuous Cover Through Crop Management

Soil conservation practices are most effective when they reduce soil disturbance or tillage and also maintain live plants in the soil.

As discussed in Module 5, perennials provide year-round live plant cover that protects soil from erosion; and their live and large root systems support rhizosphere activity and return organic matter to the soil all year. To provide continuous live roots for soil conservation and soil health, perennial crops can be rotated with annual crops, and double crops and cover crops can be integrated into annual cropping systems. Recall that in Module 7.1, a dairy crop rotation of corn-alfalfa was shown in Fig. 7.1.3b, and double cropping in Fig.7.1.4. The photos below also illustrate examples of how year-round cropping provides multiple agroecosystem benefits.

In addition, consider how managing crops and soils for soil conservation and health can enhance agricultural resilience and adaption to climate change. For instance, by increasing soil organic matter content, agricultural soil can: i. contribute to carbon sequestration (removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in soil), ii. improve soil structure and porosity and enhance water infiltration and water content in soil, and iii. store and cycle nutrients. Perennial crop production and double-cropping can utilize potentially longer growing seasons; provide more year-round protection of soil from erosion, and planting and harvesting crops at multiple times of the year can reduce the risk of extreme weather events or irregular weather interfering with cropping activities.

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Figure 7.2.8: When annual crops such as corn and soybeans have completed their lifecycle in autumn, perennial forages such as alfalfa

and perennial grasses and winter annuals such as winter wheat are alive, protecting the soil and supporting soil organisms in their root zones.

Credit: Heather Karsten

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Figure 7.2.9: Double-cropped winter canola provides live soil cover in fall and early spring.
Credit: Heather Karsten

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Figure 7.2.10: Winter rye cover crop in March protects the soil from erosion, produces organic matter to return to the soil, takes up soil nutrients such as

Nitrogen, suppresses weeds and provides habitat for below ground and aboveground organisms such as beetles that eat weed seeds and crop insect pests.

Credit: Heather Karsten

For more discussion of a crop-soil system management approach, watch the three short videos below from NRCS about the benefits of cover crops on soil health.

1. Video: The Science of Soil Health: Using Cover Crops to Soak up Nutrients for the Next Crop USDA NRCS (3:08)

   
   

2. Video: The Science of Soil Health: Without Carrot or Stick USDA NRCS (2:39)

   
   

3. Video: The Science of Soil Health: Cover Crops and Moisture USDA NRCS (3:26)

   
   

Check Your Understanding

Describe two or three practices that are components of the conservation system or agroecological approach of soil conservation and health.

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