Each year, the National Cover Crop Survey offers a useful glimpse into where cover crops are used across the country and how farmers manage them. As someone who has spent much of my career working directly with farmers, first as an independent crop consultant and now as a conservation agronomist, I like to look beyond the numbers and percentages and focus on what the results tell us about how farmers are making cover crops work.
The 2026 survey had a few things that attracted my attention, but the biggest theme to me was this: cover crop adoption is not (nor should it be) an all-or-nothing decision. Farmers are finding many ways to adapt the practice to their specific operations and, in many cases, to individual fields based on the goals they have for their conditions and scenarios. We say it a lot, but it is true: every year is different. Farmers are discovering that adaptive management is critical to long-term success, and it is perhaps the most important concept to understand when we work to expand cover crop adoption.
Use vs Don’t Use
The question of whether to use cover crops comes with a great deal of nuance and situational variation. This is where adaptive management comes in. Nearly 61% of current cover crop users surveyed indicated that there are years when they do not establish cover crops on all their fields. This indicates to me (and the reasons given back it up) that even producers who are committed to using cover crops in their production systems will encounter scenarios where establishing a cover crop was either not possible due to weather or logistical challenges, or maybe it just did not make sense for them to do so based on the crop rotation.
In Illinois, we often see more cover crop use ahead of soybeans than we do ahead of corn. Why? Cover cropping before corn can be more challenging for a host of reasons, and many producers are currently deciding to focus on honing a system for soybeans rather than managing the greater complexity before corn. For me, this underscores the adaptive field management strategy I’ve used throughout my career. A farming practice doesn't need to be an “every-acre, every-year” commitment to bring tangible, valuable benefits to the system.
Where do incentives fit?
81% of the 256 respondents who received an incentive payment for using cover crops said they would definitely or probably continue using cover crops even after the incentive ends. As an agronomist, this tells me two things:
Producers are finding value in the practice separate from the incentive payment. These are the things I stress all the time to the producers I work with - real agronomic benefits like better water infiltration, erosion control, and weed suppression.
Incentive payments help to absorb some of the financial burdens and risks when adopting cover crops as a new practice. Incentives should not be viewed as “getting paid to do it,” but rather as a risk deferment and cost-sharing opportunity to use while the new practice is learned and adapted to a producer’s specific farming context.
The Next Horizon
Expanding cover crop use is certainly a worthy endeavor, but I don't think more acres should be the only measure of success. In the conservation world, we often measure progress by the number of farmers enrolled in a program, the number of acres impacted by a practice, or estimated nutrient and sediment reductions. All of those are important measures, but as a field agronomist, many of those numbers can feel far removed from the realities seen from the tractor cab or while walking fields.
For me, the next horizon is helping farmers manage their practice better. That means identifying where cover crops fit best within an operation, selecting a species or mix that fits the goal, establishing it successfully, and having a plan for managing it when conditions don't go as planned. Like I said before, success isn't necessarily an every-acre, every-year cover crop system. It may look more like a producer who understands where the practice provides value, knows where it doesn't fit, and has the experience to adapt as conditions change. These are among the points I try to focus on each summer when I travel around the state, meeting one-on-one with farmers and giving presentations at our soil & water conservation district partner’s field day events.
That said, the constraints are real. We can't control when or how much it rains, when the combine gets to the field, or whether conditions will be ideal for establishing a cover crop. But we can help farmers improve decision-making around those constraints. To me, that's where the opportunity lies — not simply in getting more acres into cover crops, but in helping producers develop systems that work for their farms and can adapt when Mother Nature throws a wicked curveball.
Ultimately, I think the 2026 National Cover Crop Survey reinforces what those of us who work with farmers have known all along: There is no silver bullet to making cover crops work all the time. The most successful approach is the one that fits the farm, the field, and the year – three moving targets. If we can help more producers develop an adaptable, practical approach, I believe we will not only see more cover crops in the field, but more farmers making the practice a standard part of their farming future.
Want to explore where cover crops might fit?
Start with the field, the cropping system, and the goal. From there, build the cover crop strategy around the realities of your farm.
Learn from a group of farmers who are having success with cover crops and other soil health practices – Join your local Farmer-Led Advances in Soil Health (FLASH) group or start your own! Learn more here: Farmer-Led Advances in Soil Health (FLASH) Program · American Farmland Trust
Explore the financial incentive opportunities available in your area using Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership’s Financial Incentives Database (FIND) Tool: FINANCIAL INCENTIVES DATABASE (FIND) TOOL - Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership
Numerous additional technical resources are available through AFT’s Illinois Cover Crop Initiative webpage.
You can read the full 2026 report and reports from previous years at National Cover Crop Survey | CTIC.
