The Potential Role of Insect Suppression in Increasing the Adoption of Cover Crops

We used a survey of attendees of an organic farming conference in Minnesota, U.S.A., to determine whether farmers would be more likely to adopt a fall-seeded winter rye cover crop preceding soybeans if doing so could aid in the suppression of soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Homoptera: Aphididae). Of the 24 soybean growers that responded to our survey, 22 indicated that they would be more likely to either adopt or retain this cover cropping practice if it could aid in soybean aphid suppression. Insect pest suppression may therefore be an effective way to augment adoption of cover cropping practices. INTRODUCTION Fall-seeded winter cover crops have the potential to improve soil organic matter, reduce soil erosion, manage excess nutrient loads, and provide for weed and insect management. While the benefits of cover crops to soil fertility, nutrient scavenging, and erosion and weed control are well-documented, research showing improvement in insect control has lagged behind in many cover-cropping systems. To illustrate this, we did a literature search on the AGRICOLA database to compare the number of scientific citations associated with cover crops and terms associated with ‘soil’, ‘weeds’ and ‘insects’. There was a clear deficit of citations associated with the term ‘insects’ and ‘insect control’ when paired with ‘cover crop’ (Table 1).