b'COVER CROP CORNERCOVER CROPPING IS AN ALLY IN PROMOTINGPLANT DIVERSITYREGENERATIVE AGRICULTUREis a system of farm-ing that seeks to improve soil health, increase biodiversity, and promote ecological balance. One of the key components of regenerative agriculture is increasing plant diversity. In natural settings, there are no monocultures, but rather a dynamic blend of different plants growing together in harmony, which changes Kevin Elmy with time, climate, and management. By pairing Elmy is founder of Coverfunctional plant groups, we can create a diverse Crops Canada. His bookmix that benefits farm ecology.Cover Cropping in Western Canada is availableFunctional plant groups are described by what through Friesen Press,they do for the plant, soil and animal ecology. Amazon, and digitallyGrass, legume, Brassica, non-Brassica broadleaf, through Apple Books,and forb are the five main groups of functionalThe same polycrop blend with two differentKindle, and Google Play.plants. Depending on what the goals are andrates of barley.For more info on Cover Crops Canada visitwhat plants are available, there are other ways covercrops.ca of breaking them into different groups. Each oftheir relationship with nitrogen fixing rhizobia. these groups can be further grouped into warmBrassica species are nutrient scavengers. Non-and cool species groups, which then can be fur- Brassica broadleaf is a catch-all type of grouping ther grouped into annual, biennial and perennialdue to the vast diversity of the plant types. Forbs options. By figuring out your goals, species can beare described as flowering plants, and they tend selected based on what they bring to the blend. to disappear quickly in a system with animals. For example, a mix of oat, barley, triticale, andTherefore, reintroducing and encouraging flowers pea covers two functional plant groups: annualto be in our system helps create healthy soil.cool season legume and annual cool seasonCreating a goal is important to make smart grasses. By comparison, a mix of oat, Japanesespecies selection, knowing the function of the spe-millet, Italian ryegrass, pea, turnip, Phacelia,cies, and identifying synergistic and antagonistic chicory, and sunflower covers more functionalspecies. The seeding rate will determine the proper plant groups: annual cool season grass, annualexpression of each species. Time of seeding will warm season grass, biennial cool season grass,also dictate what group of functional plant groups annual cool season legume, biennial cool seasonwill be used. Brassica, annual cool season forb, biennial warmSeeding warm season species while soil tem-season forb, and annual warm season non-Bras- peratures are cool will put them at a disadvantage sica broadleaf. This plant diversity will help driveto the cool species that are better adapted to those soil health. conditions. Likewise with biennial and perennial Once you know what species you want,plants. They tend to be slower-establishing than seeding rate is the next part of the equation. Toannuals, so can disappear in a mix if the annual determine the amount of the blend that will bespecies are seeded at too high of a rate. No sense allocated to each species in the mix, we need toseeding different functional plant groups if they know the number of seeds in a pound, kilogramare not allowed to establish.or bushel of the seed and the regular plant densityModern agriculture has developed a produc-of a monoculture crop. The grass will producetion system based on monocultures. This has led biomass and provide a fibrous root system.us to a path of increased inputs and expense. By There are a lot of options for functional plantre-establishing plant diversity along with other groups for both warm and cool season spe- soil health principles, we can start healing our cies, annual, biennial, and perennial. Legumessoils and recovering net margin that we have lost provide a nitrogen fixing opportunity due toover the years. 20GERMINATION.CAJULY 2023'