Cover Crop Activities In North Dakota.

Cover crops have been effectively promoted and widely adopted throughout North Dakota.  Increased adoption of cover crops has been a driven by concurrent interests to reduce commercial inputs and build soil health in crop, pasture, and grazing lands.  Increased soil health is a purported benefit from the use of cover crops, which is critical in addressing resource concerns such as depleted soil fertility, lack of soil biological diversity, increased salinity, and poor water infiltration rates.  Demonstration projects have been initiated throughout North Dakota to evaluate the use of cover crops in cropping and/or grazing systems under conventional and organic management.  Compost and compost teas, in conjunction with cover crop cocktails, are also being evaluated to determine their effects on soil health and crop yield.  In addition to the demonstration projects, researchers are quantifying benefits and drawbacks associated with cover crop use in cropping and grazing systems, as well as developing cover crop decision aids.  This poster will provide an overview of current cover crop demonstration projects and ongoing research in North Dakota.