Cover Cropping to Reduce Nutrient Loss
Wayne Fredericks is a farmer in Osage, Iowa. When Wayne joined the board of the Iowa Soybean Association in 2008, he started hearing a great deal about the positive possibilities that can come with using cover crops.
Wayne started experimenting with cover crops in replicated research trials on his farm back in 2012.
- Wayne started with small replicated trials with cover crops.
- By 2015, Wayne had put cover crops on 50% of his field. But lawsuits in Iowa over nutrient losses from farms spurred Wayne to put cove crops on the rest of his fields, too.
- Over time, Wayne has used his cover cropping system to improve the water quality from the tile drainage on his fields.
Adding cover crops has reduced nutrient losses on Wayne’s farm and helped improve the overall water quality in his watershed.
