Cover crops keep soil covered, provide living roots post-harvest, improve diversity of both plants and soil and minimize soil disturbance. Yet, according to the USDA Agriculture Census of 2017, less than 10 percent of U.S. cropland used cover crops. To promote cover crop benefits and encourage increased adoption, University of Missouri scientists and collaborators led by Dr. Rob Myers are conducting regionally customized cover crop and soil health training for industry farm advisors. By having consistent training across the industry, farmers receive the best support for soil health management.
University of Missouri researchers are developing cover crop training modules for senior agronomists with the help of private industry, government agencies and the four regional cover crop councils. These regionally focused trainings are starting with cover crops in the Midwest. The modules are supplemented with train-the-trainer programming to help the agronomists share this knowledge of cover crop use with staff at their companies.
Dr. Myers stated, “Cover crops have great potential to improve soil health and sequester soil carbon, while providing many other benefits such as weed control. By helping industry farm advisors have access to the latest information on cover crops, we feel farmers will ultimately benefit as they get management guidance from their private sector fertilizer and seed dealers and consulting agronomists.”
In addition to the direct technical training, the training modules will be available online at no cost to interested organizations. The train-the-trainer model allows organizations to adjust the materials to their needs and make extensive in-house use of these educational resources over time.