Growers across North Carolina continue to increase cover crop adoption for the wide range of benefits that cover crop use offers crop rotations in this state.
Past research has investigated some of the short-term benefits that cover crop use can bring to soybean production in the state, such as weed suppression and soil moisture conservation. The first video below discusses some of those benefits. As we gain more experience with managing cover crops in the state, it has also become apparent that cover crop integration into crop rotations can also cause production challenges.
For this reason, it is important to modify your management strategies and scouting regimes when you are planting soybeans behind a cover crop. Recommendations for modifying insect scouting can be found in the second video below and in this past post.
More recently, NC State has shifted their research focus to more holistically understanding the impacts of cover crops on pest dynamics in the soybean system. Crop and Soil Sciences graduate student Hannah Massengill discusses her interdisciplinary project on cover crop management and pest dynamics in NC soybean production in the third video below.
We thank the Southern IPM Center for funding through a USDA NIFA Extension IPM grant.
