The Midwest Cover Crops Council (MCCC) strives to facilitate widespread adoption of cover crops throughout the Midwest, to improve ecological, economic, and social sustainability. The Cover Crop Decision Tool is an initiative by the MCCC to consolidate cover crop information by state to help farmers make cover crop selections at the county level. The tool makes seeding date recommendations based on county specific weather information, and sorts cover crop species by desirable attributes of the farmer’s choosing. Indiana was the first state in the Midwest to implement a decision tool for field crops and Michigan is currently the only state with a decision tool for vegetable crops. Indiana SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) is funding the creation of a decision tool for vegetable crops in Indiana this fall. Both the IN field crops tool and MI vegetable tool can be found on the MCCC website (mccc.msu.edu).
We are seeking farmers who use cover crops in vegetable production to assist in crafting the Indiana Vegetable Decision Tool. We will have an in person discussion about seeding dates, seeding rates, and species attributes at the Shelby County Purdue Extension Office (1600 East State Road 44, Suite C, Shelbyville) on Monday November 7 from 10am to 1pm. Lunch will be provided by IN SARE. Please RSVP to Anna Morrow (annamorrow@purdue.edu or (317) 392-6417) by November 2 if you plan to attend. If you cannot participate, we would appreciate if you could send us your suggestions and expectations on the upcoming tool. If you have questions about this process or would like to know more, please contact Midwest Cover Crops Council Program Manager Anna Morrow at annamorrow@purdue.edu or (317) 392-6417.