Cover Crops in Agrosystems: Innovations and Applications

Abstract

Cover crops can reduce the dependence of farmers on agrochemicals while enhancing overall agrosystem's performance. However, the inherent complex-ity of cover-crop-based systems hampers their adoption by conventional farmers. Therefore, special management skills and alternative research and technology transfer approaches may be required to facilitate their adoptive use by conventional farmers. We propose that development and adoption of suitable cover-crop-based production systems may require the use of an " innovation framework " that includes (1) identi-fication of system constraints, (2) analysis of system behavior, (3) exploration of alternative systems, and (4) system design and selection. We describe case studies from four regions of the Americas (Florida, USA; Paraná and Santa Catarina, Brazil; and Canelones, Uruguay) that illustrate the relationships between this inno-vation framework and the development and adoption of cover-crop-based produc-tion systems. Where successful, development and adoption of such systems appear to relate to a number of attributes including (1) active involvement by farmers in research and dissemination programs; (2) integration of cover crops into production systems without net loss of land or labor resources; (3) informing farmers of the (direct) benefits of cover crop use; (4) provision of multiple benefits by cover crops, (5) sufficient access to information, inputs, and technologies required for cover crop use; and (6) provision of skills and experience necessary to manage cover crops effec-tively. Where these attributes are absent and failure to innovate has prevented development and adoption of cover-crop-based systems, policy initiatives to reward farmers for ecological services provided by cover crops may be required.