New Round of Cover Crop Incentive Funds Available

Jun 13, 2024

The University of Missouri Center for Regenerative Agriculture has begun a second round of funding for fall cover crop planting in Missouri. About $2 million in funding is available for Missouri producers interested in using cover crops on their farmland.

The application period for incentive payments is currently underway and will be open through July 31 or whenever funding runs out, says Bethany Bedeker, cover crop outreach manager with the MU Center for Regenerative Agriculture.

Cover crops are used to protect and improve the soil when cash crops are not being grown. Besides aiding soil health, cover crops help in reducing erosion, sequestering carbon, controlling weeds, managing nutrients and improving water quality, says Rob Myers, director of the center and extension professor in the MU Division of Plant Science and Technology.

Specific opportunities for this enrollment period include $30 per acre to plant cereal rye in front of soybeans, $40 per acre to plant a mix of three cover crops in front of corn or other non-legume crops, $15 per acre to delay spring cover crop termination until after May 1, and $20 per acre for grazing cover crops.

Applications for incentive funds will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis for those who meet eligibility requirements, says Bedeker. After available funds are fully allocated for this season, remaining qualified applicants will be placed on a waiting list.

Applicants must have operational control of the relevant field in Missouri and have a USDA Farm Service Agency farm number. For details and online application form, visit the project website at https://cra.missouri.edu/crcl_covercrops.

Source : missouri.edu

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.