Turning Cover Crops into Revenue: Quantifying the Impacts of Grazing or Haying Cover Crops on Soil Health and Profitability in No-till Systems

Commodities

Practices

Winter annual cover crops (CCs) are a critical component of conservation agriculture in the Southeastern U.S., widely used to reduce soil erosion, limit nutrient runoff, and build soil organic matter. Despite these benefits, CCs provide no direct economic returns to producers, which can hinder adoption, particularly when establishment and management costs are substantial and cost-share opportunities are limited. Producers in Tennessee and Kentucky have expressed strong interest in grazing CCs or harvesting CCs for hay to offset CC establishment costs and generate additional revenue. Yet, region-specific research quantifying how grazing or haying CCs affects soil health and subsequent cash crop performance has been limited. This lack of locally relevant data leaves producers without clear guidance on whether these utilization practices compromise, maintain, or potentially enhance the long-term agronomic and environmental benefits of CCs. Therefore, the proposed project will use a systems research approach to quantify the impacts of grazing or haying CCs on soil health, subsequent cash crop grain yield, and farm profitability. This goal will be achieved by addressing the following research questions: 1) Is subsequent grain yield affected by grazing or haying CCs?, 2) how does grazing or haying CCs affect soil physical and hydraulic properties, 3) how does utilizing CCs through grazing or haying affect soil nitrogen dynamics, nitrogen-use efficiency and microbial communities, and 4) what are the economic risks and returns of incorporating grazing or haying CCs into corn-soybean systems? This multidisciplinary project will be conducted across three producers' fields and two research sites in Tennessee and Kentucky. The project will include four treatments: grazed CCs, harvesting CCs for hay, undisturbed CCs, and no CC. Mixed CC species will be used, with species composition varying among locations based on the interactive Southern Cover Crop Council's resource guide and producers' recommendations. The project will use no-till corn-soybean rotation as the cash crop sequence to mimic typical row crop systems in Tennessee and Kentucky. As a farmer-oriented research project, this study will involve working closely with the three producers who will: 1) participate in the planning and establishment of the experiments on their farms, 2) manage CCs, 3) participate in field data collection, 4) participate in field days, and 5) provide information for the economic analysis of costs and returns of grazing or haying CCs. The protocols that will be implemented in this project will result in three years of comprehensive soil, crop, and economic data, providing regional producers with reliable benchmarks for making informed management decisions. Dissemination of project results (through field days, workshops, webinars, social media, journal articles, extension publications, etc.) will be an integral component of this project. We expect this project to make grazing CC systems more attractive and accessible to producers. Adopting this integrated crop-livestock system will improve long-term profitability and expand market opportunities to reduce economic risk and improve producers' quality of life, and safeguard critical natural resources like land, soil, and water.

The overarching goal of this project is to quantify the impacts of grazing or haying CCs on soil health, subsequent cash crop (corn and soybean) grain yield, and farm profitability using a systems research approach. To achieve this goal, the specific objectives are to:

1. Quantify CC biomass, forage nutritive value, and grazing animal performance; crop nitrogen uptake; and cash crop grain yield. This objective will address the question: How does grazing or haying CCs affect subsequent corn and soybean grain yield and overall system productivity?

Learning Outcome: The project team, advisory committee members, producers, extension agents, and other agricultural agents will gain knowledge of how grazing and haying CCs affect subsequent cash crop productivity.

Action Outcome: Producers will incorporate grazing or haying CCs into their operation.

2. Assess soil physical and hydraulic properties. This objective will address the question: How does grazing or haying CCs affect soil physical and hydraulic properties?

Learning Outcome: (i). Collaborating producers and students will gain hands-on experience evaluating soil physical and hydraulic properties in situ. (ii). Producers will develop a better understanding of how grazing or haying CCs influence these properties.

Action Outcome: Producers will adopt or refine grazing and haying management practices for CCs to minimize soil compaction, maintain water infiltration, and improve long-term soil physical and hydraulic functioning in no-till corn-soybean systems.

3. Quantify dynamics in soil nitrogen; soil organic matter accumulation; and soil microbial abundance and community composition. This objective will address the question: How does grazing or haying CCs affect soil organic matter accumulation and microbial communities?

Learning Outcome: Producers and stakeholders will gain a better understanding of the effects of grazing and haying CCs on soil nutrient cycling, soil organic matter accumulation, and soil biological health.

Action Outcome: Producers will adopt management practices that improve soil microbial communities and enhance long-term soil health.

4. Conduct comprehensive economic analyses to assess risks and returns. This objective will address the question: Is grazing or haying CCs economically viable management strategies for improving farm profitability in no-till corn-soybean systems?

Learning Outcome: Producers and stakeholders will improve their understanding of the economic risks, costs, and potential profitability associated with integrating grazing and haying CCs into no-till corn-soybean production systems.

Action Outcome: Producers will use project-generated economic information to make informed management decisions regarding the adoption of grazing or haying CCs within their farming operations.