Nathan Hicklin

State Water Quality Specialist|USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service

2025 Abstract - BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS AND ECONOMIC RETURN OF COVER CROPS IN CORN/BEAN ROTATION: Cover crops are planted to reduce soil erosion, reduce soil compaction, improve water infiltration and improve overall soil health. Incorporating cover crops into a crop rotation can inherently increase risk for growers in spite of their noted benefits. Financial assistance programs are designed to reduce that risk as growers become more familiar with how to manage them. This five-year adaptive management project began in 2018 to analyze the ability for growers to financially continue to incorporate cover crops into their rotation without financial assistance. After the 5-year study, our data shows that cover crops can pay for themselves over time when properly managed.