The term cover crop can refer to any plant that is used to increase the health and fertility of soil. By taking advantage of the unique biological and physical characteristics of different plant species, we can speed up the time in which it takes to build healthy and biologically rich soil. In addition to feeding your soils, cover crops can be utilized as an ultra premium forage for livestock.
Health and biologically rich soil, above all, means nutritionally dense food whether that be vegetables, fruits, meats, grains, forage or nuts. By increasing the health and fertility of your soil, you can tackle many core issues such as soil erosion, nutrient loss, diseases, pests, weeds, water conservation, biodiversity, and most importantly, food security.
As you implement practices to increase the health of your soil, many of these problems seem to work themselves out in relation to one another. This is why the importance of healthy soil cannot be overstated, because it acts as a buffer to the unpredictability of Mother nature. It is also the way plants have evolved for millennia.
Cover crops matter because they open us up to the option of having agriculture systems that are financially viable, extremely productive and ecologically sound, all of which allow for high productivity over extended periods of time. While cover crops seem like a simple answer to such complicated problems, we find more and more that a whole systems approach is far superior and much simpler than addressing individual problems.
