The researchers accessed satellite data that tracked county-level corn and soybean area that used cover crops in Indiana between 2006 and 2015. They then merged that data with information about land covered by crop insurance.
The study showed that a one percentage point increase in county-level crop insurance participation resulted in a 0.494 percent reduction in cover crop adoption rates.
“Based on our calculations, if 246 average-sized farms increased crop insurance liabilities, only about four out of these 246 would have chosen not to use cover crops,” Rejesus said. “These results indicate that crop insurance is not likely a major barrier to cover crop adoption.”
Rejesus said that the 2018 Farm Bill affirmed that cover crop adoption is considered a “good farming practice,” meaning that its utilization is now treated like other agricultural management practices, which may eliminate some farmer hesitancy in using the practice.
Rejesus adds, however, that the effects of the policy clarification instituted in the 2018 Farm Bill alone may still not strongly convince some farmers to use cover crops. Instead, he says, targeted conservation payments and enhanced outreach programs to farmers describing the benefits of cover crops may have a greater effect.
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