For corn and soybean growers eyeing cover crops, the real question isn’t whether they work. It’s whether they’ll pay.
Rob Myers knows that conversation well. As director of the University of Missouri Center for Regenerative Agriculture, he’s heard every hesitation — and he’s got numbers to back up both the caution and the opportunity.
“On average, it takes about three years for cover crops to break even,” Myers said during a recent Iowa Learning Farms webinar. “Those first two years, you’re likely to lose a little money — mainly seed costs, maybe some termination expense.”
Myers helped develop a 2019 USDA research report examining cover crop economics across multiple regions and cropping systems.
The findings were clear: seed and management costs do take time to offset through yield improvements and reduced fertilizer and herbicide bills. But certain field conditions and farm practices can flip profitability into year one.
Four Fast Tracks To Positive ROI
Not all fields are created equal when it comes to a cover crop payback. Myers points to four scenarios where row-crop growers can see returns faster than the three-year average.
1. Integrate Livestock—Cash Flow In Year One
The fastest path to profitability runs straight through the cattle gate. For farmers with existing fencing and water infrastructure, grazing livestock on fall and spring cover crop growth can deliver ROI in the first season.
Covers stretch hay supplies, extend the grazing window, and turn manure and hoof action into accelerated soil health gains. Even when infrastructure must be built from scratch, payback often hits by season two. When you can run cattle or rent the ground out for grazing, cover crops aren’t an expense—they’re feed.
2. Stop Resistant Weeds And Cut Chemical Costs
Herbicide-resistant broadleaf weeds such as waterhemp and Palmer amaranth are corn and soybean yield breakers across the mid-South and much of the Midwest. Enter cereal rye.
In a 2019-2020 National Cover Crop Survey 91.2% (289 of 317) of the farmers reported seeing an improvement in weed control as a result of using cover crops, specifically cereal rye. “Of the 317 respondents, 27.4% (87) estimated the improvement in weed control — which was defined in the question as both weed numbers and weed biomass — at 51 to 75%. Another 24.9% (79) figured it to be 26 to 50% better,” the report says.
Recent research at Texas A&M by graduate student Gustavo Silva and weed scientist Muthukumar Bagavathiannan showed that a cereal rye mat producing 3,000 pounds of biomass per acre suppressed up to 82% of weeds compared to untreated plots.
The reason: beyond creating a physical barrier, both living and terminated cereal rye shades the ground. This cooling effect lowers soil temperatures and denies sunlight to weed seeds that require light to germinate, reducing overall weed emergence by half, Silva reported in an article posted online at GROW (Getting Rid Of Weeds).
3. Replace Nitrogen With Legumes When Prices Spike
When fertilizer prices climb like they have this year, legume covers can become a valuable nitrogen factory. If allowed to grow into late spring, species like clover, vetch and field peas can fix substantial atmospheric nitrogen, allowing farmers to substitute a portion of their synthetic N.
4. Beat Compaction Without The Ripper
Myers cited multi-year Ohio State research comparing deep ripping to cover crops on compacted ground. The result: covers were at least as effective as a ripper in the short-term and superior in the long-term, because they help keep soils open and loose.
“The cover crop can also be less expensive than running a bigger tractor to pull that deep ripper,” Myers noted, once you factor in diesel fuel, depreciation and labor.
Incentive Dollars Help Flip Year One to Profit
For growers hesitant about the transition years, public and private cost‑share programs can minimize the financial risks. Incentive payments from state initiatives or federal programs can help make cover crops profitable as early as year one. Here are three programs for consideration. Check with your state crop associations, other trade groups and NRCS to identify more programs:
- At the federal level, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provide payments for cover crop adoption or enhancements.
- The Farmers for Soil Health program, a 20-state initiative, provides payments to new cover-crop users over a multi year timeframe. The payments are facilitated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Go to farmersforsoilhealth.com for more information.
- The Soil and Water Outcomes Fund (SWOF) supports farmers who commit to conservation outcomes (cover crops, reduced tillage, extended rotations) and pays $33 per acre on average. The program offers a one-year contract with 25% paid prior to verification.
Start Simple, Start Small
Despite available financial incentives, national surveys indicate that time and logistics remain the primary barriers to farmer adoption. Many growers who have not yet tried cover crops express concern that they are simply too busy during the fall harvest window to seed covers, or they worry about complications during spring planting.
To overcome these logistical bottlenecks, Myers encourages farmers to start out with low-risk, simple systems. Planting species like oats and radishes that naturally winter‑kill eliminates the stress of spring termination. Alternatively, seeding cereal rye ahead of soybeans allows for a wider management window in the spring.
Ultimately, Myers said, successful cover cropping requires matching management expectations with field realities.
“Cover crops are clearly a great choice for building soil health,” he said. “And in many cases, they can be a good economic choice as well.”
