Producers vary in consistent cover crop usage

To assess whether farm operations use cover crops persistently over time, researchers with USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) analyzed farm-level data from operations that responded to each of the three most recent Censuses of Agriculture (2012, 2017, and 2022). They found that 3.4 percent of consistently tracked operations reported using cover crops in each census. A larger proportion used cover crops in two of the three Censuses or in only one Census year. Looking at data for 2022, a total of 12.9 percent of operations used cover crops. Of these, about half (the segments of 3.4 percent and 2.9 percent) reported using cover crops in the previous census year (2017). Another 1.3 percent of operations had used them in 2012 but not 2017, while 5.3 percent of respondents to all three censuses reported using cover crops only in 2022. Looking across all three census years, 25 percent of producers tried cover crops at least once. However, of the producers that tried cover crops at least once, about one-eighth used them persistently across all three census years. The data also suggest that over half of operations using cover crops in one Census chose not to use them in every Census year. This variation in the number of farmers using cover crops highlights the dynamic nature of producer decisions about when to implement cover crops and whether to use them in every year. This chart appears in the ERS report, Economic Outcomes of Soil Health and Conservation Practices on U.S. Cropland, published in June 2025.