No-Till Farmer
Get full access NOW to the most comprehensive, powerful and easy-to-use online resource for no-tillage practices. Just one good idea will pay for your subscription hundreds of times over.
TESTING SITES. The map represents the current cover crop variety testing sites. The location pins in purple are university testing sites and the ones in blue are on-farm sites. The Center for Regenerative Agriculture hopes to continue expanding its variety testing efforts across the nation. CRA
Researchers Breeding Covers for Targeted Benefits, Specific Environments
From cereal rye with higher levels of weed-controlling allelochemicals to hairy vetch that germinates in the first year, scientists are working to breed better cover crops
TAKEAWAYS
- If a cover crop seeding fails, investigate it rather than blaming cover crops in general for not working.
- Do some research in the market and in your home base to find cover crop varieties that may work best in your climate.
- Watch for development of varieties of certain cover crop species for traits such as allelopathy, hard-seededness or root development.
Rob Myers never wants a farmer to believe that cover crops won’t work for their area.
“You have to tweak the management, you have to think about what’s the right cover crop, the right timing for the system,” says the director of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture at the Univ. of Missouri. “But they will work.”
To help farmers find success with the practice, the Center is leading a multi-partner National Cover Crop Variety Improvement and Seed Production Program, with the objectives of both improving cover crop varieties through breeding efforts and testing them on a nationwide scale to identify which ones perform best for each region.
At the 2026 National No-Tillage Conference in St. Louis, Myers shared some of the results they’ve seen since the project launched, as well as some strategies to maximize cover crops’ use and profitability.
Breeding New Varieties
One of the challenges with cover crops today is that a lot of seed being sold is Variety Not Stated (VNS).
“We don’t have enough name varieties that are locally adapted where we know the traits and how they’re going to perform in those areas,” Myers…
Premium content is for our Digital-only and Premium subscribers. A Print-only subscription doesn't qualify. Please purchase/upgrade a subscription with the Digital product to get access to all No-Till Farmer content and archives online. Learn more about the different versions and what is included.
Top Articles
- How Foliar Nutrients Interact with Weed Control
- No-Till Highlights: June 18, 2026
- New Members of CTIC Hall of Fame Inducted
- Continuum Ag & Aztalan Bio Prepare to Help Farmers Maximize Profits with the Pending 45Z Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit
- [Podcast] No-Till ‘Mic Drop’: Ag’s Brightest Minds Discuss the Future of Conservation Agriculture: Part 1
Current Issue
Cover Crops Managed Properly Can Bring Immediate Benefits
Boost Revenue & Soil Health by Integrating Livestock with No-Till
Quake Sensors Show Tillage Weakens Soil
Must Read Free Eguides
Download these helpful knowledge building tools
- How Beneficial Insects, Pollinators Can Boost No-Till Resilience
- How No-Till Improves Your Land Value
- 5 Pillars for No-Till Farming Effectively, Efficiently
- Making the Precision Basics Even Better with Implement Guidance
Videos
No-Tiller Plants Entire Corn Crop with Driverless Tractor
On this episode of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by Titan International, we catch up with young Kentucky no-tiller Quint Pottinger to see how he autonomously planted his entire crop in 2026. Senior editor John Dobberstein checks in from the CTIC Conservation in Action Tour in Scotland Neck, N.C., where no-tiller Zeb Winslow III talks about his multi-species cover crop program.
Top Directory Listings
Estes Performance Concaves
We have engineered and developed the most advanced concave system that threshes all crops, eliminates rotor loss, improves grain quality, gives you a cleaner sample – all with one set of XPR concaves.
Titan International Inc
At Titan International, our product portfolio reflects our commitment to innovation and high-quality products. Titan International offers a full line of solution-focused wheel, tire, and undercarriage products for a wide variety of off-the-road equipment in agriculture, construction, forestry, mining, power sports, high-speed trailers, and outdoor power equipment segments. As one of the largest North American manufacturers, with a network of dealers all over the world, Titan is an industry leader that original equipment manufacturers and operators can count on for durable products and quality service.
Servitech
Provide expert analysis and decision support to increase productivity and profitability.