The Indiana Department of Agriculture has announced that farmers in Indiana have set a new conservation record by planting 1.6 million acres of ground cover crops, all for the sake of Indiana soil and water.
These ground cover crops aren’t actually harvested — they’re planted so the roots can protect the soil from water and wind erosion between planting and harvesting regular crops. Winter wheat is one example.
“Protecting our most vital natural resources is top of mind for our Indiana farmers and this year’s record breaking cover crop acreage is a testament to that,” said Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Indiana's Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development, via news release. “Through the implementation of cover crops and other conservation efforts, farmers are ensuring our land and water resources remain healthy and productive.”
Trevor Laureys is director of the Division of Soil Conservation. He said these roots stabilize the soil between crops and over the winter, and keep nutrients from farms out of the waterways.
“So by stabilizing that soil, you're kind of mimicking the way that soil was formed — most of Indiana soils and formed under deciduous forests and prairies and bogs and fens, a living root in that soil all the time.”
If an active farm also borders a stream or river, without cover crops, soil can end up in the river and bring the excess nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorus, with it.
“You get high sedimentation that can change the chemistry of the water, pieces of this being there might be nitrogen tied to that soil,” Laureys said. “And that is a problem with nutrients in the Gulf of Mexico.”
It is estimated that cover crops prevented 1.7 million tons of sediment from entering Indiana’s waterways — or 480 Olympic-size swimming pools. Overwintering covers also prevented 4.3 million pounds of nitrogen and over 2.2 million pounds of phosphorus from entering Indiana's waterways — Indiana Department of Agriculture
Water in Indiana eventually makes it to the gulf of Mexico, and can contribute to hypoxia, where there's not enough oxygen in the water to support life.
To plant cover crops, Laureys said sometimes seeds are dropped via airplane over a corn crop so it can begin growing as the corn is harvested. It can also be planted directly after harvest.
These efforts can be subsidized, but are still typically an expense for farmers. “Knowing that your neighbor who might farm a large area is doing this voluntarily, with maybe minimal government assistance in terms of incentives, I think just shows that we have some really good stewards here in Indiana,” Laureys said.
He said there are lots of other benefits to planting cover crops like winter wheat, after a cash crop like soybeans.
“Again, you provide all kinds of other benefits to not just water quality, the soil health, but there's also some wildlife benefits there and air quality benefit.”
The cover crops can also project soil if there is a high water event in a nearby body of water.
To count the 1.6 million acres, Laureys said the state worked with partners to complete a census of the cover crops on private land in Indiana. Partners include the USDA, Natural Resource Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency.
They, or their partners physically drive predetermined routes in every county of the state except for Marion County, and visually count from.
He said this 1.6million acres represents about 10-percent of the private agricultural land in the state, he’d like to keep growing that number.
"Hoosier farmers have held strong at 1.5 million acres of cover crops planted since 2021, so we are excited our farmers were once again able to move the needle forward," said Don Lamb, Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director via news release. “Soil conservation successes would not be possible without the dedicated farmers and the Indiana Conservation Partnership to help them along the way.”
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