New tool available helps farmers select cover crops that meets their goals
Recommendations made based on farm location and growing conditions.
Farmers looking for the right cover crop for their fields have a new tool available free of charge.
The Western Cover Crops Council headed the development of an online tool that helps farmers in the Western United States. The tool, which makes recommendations based on farmers’ unique situations, went live in fall 2025.
“It’s a great tool for people with beginning to intermediate familiarity of cover crops,” said Doug Collins, a professor at WSU extension who is also a member of the Western Cover Crops Council executive committee.
Farmers looking to use the cover crop tool have to provide the location of their farm, information about soil conditions, drainage and irrigation, season on when to plant, and up to three goals they have for cover crops.
“When farmers start using cover crops, they always ask what cover crops to start with,” said Nick Anderson, member of the Western Cover Crops Council, in a press release. He is also an organic vegetable extension specialist for Oregon State University. “That’s always a complex decision to make, because it depends on their reasons for cover cropping, their soil and climate, when they grow cover crops during the year, and other factors.”
Cover crops have several advantages. Crops protect soil that helps protect from erosion, adds organic matter, and great for weed suppression. Legumes add nitrogen to the soil, which is critical especially for organic farmers, Collins said.
“A lot of the benefits are directly related to biomass,” Collins said. The online tool offers a ranking system of crops based on goals. “This tool helps focus on what is the most important goal.”
The Western Cover Crop Council covers Washington, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming.
The Western Cover Crop Council formed in 2020 and is the newest of four councils in the United States. The Western council covers the largest geographical area.
The oldest one is the Midwest Council that formed around 20 years ago with others active in the Northeast and the Southeast.
Collins said the Northeast Cover Crops Council developed the platform for the cover crop tool.
The project is a collaboration between the Western Cover Crops Council, Precision Sustainable Agriculture and the United State Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, according to the press release.
Work is underway to reach out to farmers. People from the Western Cover Crops Council presented the tool at the Tilth Conference and Food Symposium that took place in November, and the council sent out email blasts to farmer listservs, Collins said.
He said the council wants to maintain the tool and get information from farmers who use it. The council is also gathering information to add a seeding rate calculator to the tool.
