I’ve been trying for months to remember something. Anyone who’s past that point in life where it seems harder to learn new tricks can probably relate.
What I was wracking my brain to recall was an alternative term for cover crops. I knew I’d heard it somewhere: the idea that to simply call a plant that is not a cash crop a “cover” crop is to denigrate the incredibly important functions such plants play. “Cover” implies just one thing — lying on top of — while we know that such crops perform a myriad of other tasks.
Then, serendipitously, it came to me. I was in the right place at the right time, at our Acres U.S.A. Healthy Soil Summit in California, and Ray Archuleta, giving the keynote address, said it: service crops. Ray, in his typical humility, says he didn’t invent the term himself. Here’s how he explained it:
“Why do I call it a service crop? Because it services the climate, services the microbes, services the bank. It services the insects and the wildlife. It services the crop to feed the microbes to get the nutrients and make them more soluble for the next corn and soybean crop. It services them.
“It’s not just about cover. That’s just one aspect. It serves as a conduit.”
There are so many reasons this is a helpful term. We’re all familiar with the “services industry” — a catchall economics term for any business that, instead of producing a physical good, provides a service, like financial advice or education or agronomic consulting. Just as any economy that produces physical goods relies on services, so cash crops depend on service crops to create conditions in which they will thrive.
And just as manufacturing is decreasing and services are increasing in our own economy — services now employ about five times as many people as the manufacturing sector — so should cover crops grow in importance as our agriculture becomes more regenerative. Imagine if farmers grew five times as many service crops as cash crops — or just a more realistic ratio like 1:1?
In this issue of Acres U.S.A., we bring you several stories of how cover/service crops are helping growers achieve more on their farms. Victor Shelton describes how his Amish neighbor is planting green into cereal rye. John Kempf lays out his priorities for regenerative operations — a plan that of course includes the managed use of cover crops. Loran Steinlage considers lessons he learned using cover crops during this spring’s dry weather in the Midwest. And in the interview, Jimmy Emmons discusses how cover crops have helped his family farm become more resilient during severe droughts.
It’s doubtful that the term “service crop” will actually ever replace “cover crop.” Even though cover crops are fairly new to most farmers, it’s become a well-known term. The alliteration in the name certainly helps.
Whatever we call them, let’s just try to use more of them! And that’s the view from the country.
