As Iowa farmers’ interest in using cover crops to reduce soil loss, conserve moisture and improve soil health continues to grow, so does interest in raising their own cover crop seed. They see cost savings and improved efficiency.

“You could trim your cover crop seed cost by 50 percent, says Wade Dooley, a sixth-generation farmer who, with his father, operates Glenwood Century Farm near Albion in Marshall County. “But you have to treat it as a cash crop like corn and soybeans, and management can be tricky since most Iowa farmers today don’t have experience growing small grains.”

The Dooleys...