Cover crops are crops that we plant for reasons besides selling them. We do not harvest cover crops, remove from the farm, or sell them (as opposed to “cash crops”). The benefits of cover crops to the farm (and our planet) include:
- Protecting soil from erosion during heavy rains
- Suppressing weeds by blocking sunlight and out-competing weeds
- Building soil by growing biomass, which helps increase organic matter in the soil over time
- Sequestering carbon as they grow (and absorb CO2 from the atmosphere)
- Serving as forage for our livestock which we rotate around the farm
- Serving as a food source (nectar and pollen) for native pollinator species and also cultivated honeybees
- Providing recreation opportunities in the form of crop mazes
Varieties of cover crops that we grow on our farm include:
- Sunnhemp
- Buckwheat
- Winter rye
- Oats
- Millet