Cover Crops Are a Smart Investment

Cover crops are one of the best public policy investments out there. Cover crops, which are crops that are planted to protect and enhance soil health, provide many valuable services. They clean water by filtering rainfall and preventing polluted runoff by 40 to 60 percent. They fight climate change by absorbing up to 0.79 tons of climate warming carbon dioxide emissions per acre. They make farms more resilient to extreme weather, with recent research showing that just a 1 percent increase in cover crops could reduce taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance payouts by tens of millions of dollars annually. Cover crops are climate superheroes. If you don’t believe it, just ask Nick Offerman, who recently got “down and dirty” in a video highlighting the numerous benefits of cover crops.

Although cover crops are growing in popularity, they are still only used on about 6 percent of cropland, meaning there is plenty of opportunity for growth.