As a farmer, it’s extremely satisfying to see a healthy, robust stand of cover crop germinating. Cover crops can provide a myriad of benefits, including soil retention, transferring atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, suppressing weeds, adding organic matter, reducing compaction, and improving soil depth—saving a farmer time and money in the long run. There are many types of cover crops, and proper selection depends on soil necessities, season, budget, equipment available, weed pressure, climate, and other factors. Given the dynamic problem-solving nature of cover crops, it should come as no surprise that they are a key piece of our conservation agriculture program at Headwaters Farm.
Cover Crops at Headwaters Farm
On August 15, 2013, the first scoop of a 1930s era dam was removed from the Sandy River Delta, representing a decade of planning to restore the original flow into the Columbia. EMSWCD grants staff attended the ceremony sponsored by the Bonneville Power Administration and the Army Corps of Engineers to witness the first step of many in this complex restoration project. Sandy River Basin Watershed Council, another partner involved in Delta’s restoration, will begin a multi-year restoration of the Toucan Wing of the Delta with funding from EMSWCD’s Partners in Conservation grant program. Read more about it at in 