Global Meta-Analysis Quantifies Benefits of Cover Crop Use

May 08, 2024

By Devin Voss

For years, both scientists and farmers have debated whether the use of cover crops—plants used to cover the ground after harvesting of main crops—have a positive or negative impact on subsequent crop yield. Hundreds of studies have been performed on the subject, with each resulting in a different conclusion.

Researchers at the Indiana University School of Science in Indianapolis compiled data from more than 100 field trials across the globe and found that cover crops have a net-positive impact, overall increasing crop yield by 2.6% globally. Standing out among the findings was how substantially yields benefited from the use of legumes as cover crops, including peas, vetch, and clover.

Yu Peng, a Ph.D. student in the School of Science, led a comprehensive study using literature synthesis and meta-analysis to quantify the results of the data gathered. Peng and his team collected over 1,000 records of field-based yield data and analyzed how cover crop type, soil texture, soil water conditions, aridity, cover crop duration, and other management practices impact crop yield.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.