Remote sensing evaluation of winter cover crop springtime performance and the impact of delayed termination

Abstract

In 2019, the Maryland Department of Agriculture's Winter Cover Crop Program introduced a delayed termination incentive (after May 1) to promote springtime biomass accumulation. We used satellite imagery calibrated with springtime in situ measurements collected from 2006–2021 (n = 722) to derive biomass estimates for Maryland fields planted to cereal cover crop species (286,200 ha total over two seasons). Cover crop C content remained steady throughout the cover crop growing season (42.6% of biomass), whereas N concentration had an inverse relationship with biomass and ranged from 1.7 to 2.9%. Throughout Maryland, delayed termination fields (n = 19,120; average termination of May 18) were, on average, estimated to accumulate an additional 789 kg of biomass, 15 kg of N, and 336 kg of C per hectare when compared to fields associated with standard termination dates (n = 28,811; average termination of April 16). Over two cover crop seasons (2019–2021), the delayed termination incentive yielded an extra 75,660,000 kg biomass, 1,526,000 kg N, and 32,230,000 kg C across 96,040 hectares. Regularly terminated field incentives cost an average of US$0.10 per kg of biomass and $4.09 per kg of N, with variability associated with agronomic management (species, planting method). Delayed termination fields cost of $0.08 per kg of biomass and $3.51 per kg of N. Late-planted cover crops that were terminated early had minimal environmental benefit, and wheat, which comprised 68% of cover crop area, performed poorly compared with other cereal species. Our findings demonstrate that substantial additional springtime biomass, C, and N accumulation were achieved through the delayed termination incentive.