Create more productive cropland with cover crops

Cargill has partnered with The Nature Conservancy on two soil health projects, establishing nearly 900 acres of cover crop demonstration sites in Minnesota with the goal of educating farmers on the benefits of cover crops and incentivizing adoption of these practices. By planting cover crops, soil health in the area will improve and local water systems will be better protected. The protective canopy formed by a cover crop reduces the impact of rain drops on the soil’s surface, thereby decreasing the breakdown of soils aggregates. This greatly reduces soil erosion and runoff, and increases infiltration.

Reduce soil loss

Cover crops decrease runoff and the loss of nutrients, pesticides and herbicides, while also protecting the quality of our streams, rivers and lakes.

Increase organic matter

Cover crops improve soil structure, stability, and increased moisture- and nutrient-holding capacity for plant growth, infiltration and percolation.

Cycle nutrients

Cover crops help store nutrients from manure, mineralized organic nitrogen or underutilized fertilizer, and reduce nutrient runoff and leaching.

Sustain plant & animal life

Cover crops provide high-quality material for grazing livestock or haying and can provide food and habitat for wildlife, beneficial insects, and pollinators.

Increase carbon capture

Cover crops improve the biological, chemical, and physical soil properties that help plants draw more carbon from the atmosphere into the soil via photosynthesis.