A Centralized Regional Database for Winter Cover Crops in Annual Cropping Systems in the Midwest.

Winter cover crops have the potential to reduce erosion, minimize losses of nitrogen and phosphorus, and increase soil carbon in annual cropping systems in the Midwest. Public support, however, for incentives to farmers to adopt cover crops is minimal. Therefore, development of location specific recommendations and documentation of cover crop environmental benefits are needed to facilitate adoption and to increase public support for cover crops in the Midwest. To begin to accomplish this, a centralized regional database will be established with cover crop growth, management, and environmental benefit information collected from multiple past and present winter cover crop trials and demonstrations across the region. Although data from many locations will focus on cereal rye cover crops, data on other cover crops, including other small grains, legumes, brassicas, and grasses, will be included in the database as available. By necessity the database will be structured to allow input of information from locations with comprehensive data sets and from locations with minimal information, including farmers’ fields.  The preliminary database framework is described and example data presented.