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Wheat cautious of cover crop incentives
The head of the National Association of Wheat Growers says ag policy concerning cover crops needs a delicate balance.
Chandler Goule tells Brownfield while the reconciliation bill encourages cover crops on farms, it does not allow growers who use wheat as a cover to harvest it.
“How do we make sure our cover crop growers are getting credit for having a good cover crop there, but need to be able to harvest it later because that’s what they’re really there for, and it not be double dipping?” he questions.
Goule says he’s not sure of the answer, but a program cannot be written for only corn and soybean farmers.
“If you write this strictly for corn and soy—considering our winter wheat rotation and the fact that we rotate with corn and soy as well—it simply will not work for us,” he says.
Goule says there are also regional differences between how wheat is grown across the country and flexibility will be required.
Once again the all or nothing mentalitynof exclusionary logic plagues farmers and the general public. Why not give $25 per acre for wheat as cover crop with no harvest of wheat and $10 per acre for wheat as cover crop with harvest? This way cover crops will be permitted and incentivised, wheat production will go up where it is geographically practical and economically beneficial.