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Chapter 3

Cover .crops .as . .

cash .crops: .Farmers .

angle .to .profit .off . .

the .practice

By .Noah .Wicks

or all their environmental and agronomic opportunity to be able to harvest and get paid
benefits, the cost of growing cover crops is for the production,” DeCamp told Agri-Pulse.
Fone barrier that stops many farmers from CoverCress has the financial backing of two
even trying them. agribusiness giants, Bayer and Bunge, as the
Enter entrepreneurs like Mike DeCamp, CEO industry searches for new ways to incentivize
of CoverCress Inc., a company that developed a farmers to grow cover crops.
variety of pennycress, a weed in other parts of Whether cover crops can pay off as biofuel
the world, that could double as a cover crop and feedstocks remains to be seen. But many advo-
a feedstock for the trucking and airline indus- cates of the practice say getting widespread,
tries’ growing appetite for low-carbon biofuels. long-term adoption will require proving that

“You get all the best soil health and other farmers can make money from planting cover
ecosystem benefits of a cover crop planting crops long after any government incentives
CoverCress. In addition, you get this economic run out.

Carinata .growing .in .a .field . .Photo: .Joel .Love/North .Florida .Research .and . .
Education .Center, .University .of .Florida .Institute .of .Food .and .Agricultural .Sciences

www.Agri-Pulse.com 27