Iowa extends cover crop planting deadline

Oct 20, 2015

Deadline extended until Sunday, November 1st

In an effort to give farmers who are participating in state cost share programs more time to ready their cover crops for planting, the Iowa Department of Agriculture is extending the deadline to Sunday, November 1^st.

“We have seen significant growth in the number of farmers using cover crops and number of acres that they are used on. There are an estimated 236,000 acres of cover crops supported by just state cost share programs. Some crops were delayed by wet weather this spring and this extension will help farmers still be able to use this important water quality practice even if their harvest is delayed,” Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said in a release.

Farmers in northern and southern Iowa will receive cover crop planting deadline extensions.

Farmers north of Highway 20 will have until Sunday, November 1^st to plant, while farmers south of Highway 20 will have their deadline extended to Sunday, November 15^th.

Farmers who choose to plant cover crops must follow guidelines, which include:

Cover crops will be seeded as soon as possible after the principal crop is harvested
The cover crop must be winter hardy (cereal rye, winter wheat, triticale)
The cover crop will be no-till drilled in crop residue
Allow cover crop to add growth as long as possible in the spring prior to termination. Cover crops must be allowed to grow at least six inches for farmers participating in federal programs.

Join the conversation and tell us your thoughts about Iowa extending its cover crop planting deadline. Before the deadline extension, were you concerned about your cover crops going in on time?

Video: Plot Day

Border View Farms is a mid-sized family farm that sits on the Ohio-Michigan border. My name is Nathan. I make and edit all of the videos posted here. I farm with my dad, Mark and uncle, Phil. We also have a part-time employee, Brock. My dad started the farm in 1980. Since then we have grown the operation from just a couple hundred acres to over 3,000. Watch my 500th video for a history of our farm I filmed with my dad.

I started making these videos in the fall of 2019 as a way to help show what I do on a daily basis as a farmer. Agriculture is different from any other industry and I believe the more people that are showing their small piece of agriculture, helps to build our story. We face unique challenges and stressful situations but have some of the most rewarding payoffs in the end. I get to spend everyday doing what I love, raising my kids on the farm, and trying to push our farm to be better every year. I hope that I can address questions or concerns that you might have about farms and agriculture.

I hope you enjoy my content and ask questions as you have them. I do my best to answer anything I can. Thanks for watching!

I appreciate you subscribing to my channel and liking my videos. You can also find me on Facebook facebook.com/borderviewfarms and on Instagram @borderviewfarms