Cover Crop Cocktails

Cover crop mixes, or cocktails, can do a lot, but can also be complex to put together. Mitch Hunter (Penn State University) discusses the principles of how to assemble different cover crop species into a successful cocktail based on farm management objectives, crop rotation restraints, and which cover crop species traits are complementary.

Download the slide presentation (PDF): Making the Most of Cover Crop Mixtures

This session was part of Cover Crops for Soil Health, a three-day professional development workshop hosted by Northeast SARE and Delaware State University in March 2016. All session recordings are available online.

Find more practical information about cover crops in the Cover Crops Topic Room.

Mitch Hunter is a PhD candidate in Agronomy at Penn State University working with Dr. David Mortensen to develop ecologically sound farming systems that are productive, economical, and workable for farmers. His current research focuses on using diverse cover crop “cocktails” to improve cropping system productivity, sustainability, and resilience in the face of challenging climatic conditions. He is investigating how cover crops affect the water relations of the following corn crop under drought, since drought is expected to become more frequent and severe under climate change. He is also assessing how cover crop cocktails can contribute to ecological weed management. Mitch draws inspiration from time spent working on Hunter family farms in Minnesota and Illinois and on ranches in California and Nevada. Prior to coming to Penn State he was the Federal Policy Manager with American Farmland Trust in Washington, DC, where he worked to promote on-farm conservation in the federal Farm Bill. He received a B.A. in Government from Harvard University following two years of liberal arts study, self-governance, and student labor at Deep Springs College.

Cover Crop Cocktails

Cover Crops for Soil Health - Northeast Workshop

Complete session recordings