b'EXPANDING LANDand EXPANDING DEMANDAs cover crop seed continues to ramp up in popularity, will there be enough land to produce to meet the demand?Alex MartinWHAT HAVE YOUheard in terms of cover crop news? Have you heard that the demand is increasing?Well, did you happen to read a news story that suggested there might not be enough land to meet the demand for cover crop seed in the coming years? been increasing year after year. In June 2020, the International Center forCover crops arent new by any means, she Tropical Agriculture, in tandem with research- says. Theyve morphed and changed through the ers from the University of Minnesota, Universitymillennia. You may be familiar with the Three Sisters of Southern California, Saint Louis University,from Native American Traditions. Even our ances-University of Hawaii and the Alliance of Biodiversitytors like Thomas Jefferson talked about cover crop-released a paper suggesting that sustainable agri- ping in their writings.culture has one major limitation facing it: the land toAnd since then, DeMasi says people are really produce cover crop seed. coming back to cover crops because of two rea-According to their press release in June,sons: the increase of fertilizer costs and regenerat-researchers believe between 3% to 6% of theing soil resources.92 million acres of cropping land currently usedTheres a desire to control as much as you can6.2for corn in the United States may be required toin a natural system with fertilizer and other inputs,million hectares produce cover crop seed for that land area. Theshe says. However, weve learned since then thatwas the reported researchers estimated this range based on a studythere are some consequences. Soils are wearingacreage of cover completed on 18 cover crops currently used onout, and its taking more and more inputs to get thecrops in the U.S. corn farmlands. same production.from 2012 to 2017.But, is this something that cover crop seed com- Not only that, but with the increase of fertilizer panies are worried about? comes the increase in fertilizer costs.Cover Crop Demand Farmers started to feel like they were losing1.7 % control of their farms, DeMasi says. Cover crops According to Risa DeMasi, co-founder and direc- help farmers take back that control, become moreof U.S. cropland tor of marketing of Grassland Oregon, cover cropsprofitable and protect one of their most valuablecurrently employs arent anything new, even though the demand hasassets, the soil.cover crops.42/ SEEDWORLD.COMOCTOBER 2020'