Wisconsin Cover Crop Data Network
On-farm data at your fingertips.
Wisconsin farmers around the state are embracing cover crops as a critical tool to keep soil covered, build soil fertility, prevent erosion, protect our clean water, and manage nutrients.
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​Since 2020, over 140 farmers in over 60 counties around the state have joined the WI Cover Crop Data Network and shared their stories of cover crop practices, successes, and challenges.
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Use the interactive tools below to explore how different farm systems use all kinds of cover crops, and see the biomass as well as nutrient and forage quality anyalises results from farms across the state
Conservation Cropping Outreach Specialist Dane Elmquist gives an overview of the Wisconsin Cover Crop Data Network and highlights project results. He also showcases the project’s interactive data dashboard and provides information on how to participate in the project for the 2024-2025 season.
Original Research Article: Building cover crop expertise with citizen science in the upper Midwest: supporting farmer innovation in a time of change” Front. Sustain. Food Syst., 19 May 2023, M. Ingram, Participatory Action Research Scientist, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute.
The Wisconsin Cover Crop Data Network is a joint effort with UW-Madison's NPM Program, The Nature Conservancy, and UW-Madison's WICST project. The Network is supported by the Soil Health Alliance for Research and Education, a collaboration between Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, the USDA Dairy Forage Research Center, and UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems. We are grateful to our collaborating Wisconsin farmers.
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