cover crop

noun

1. a crop, usually a legume, planted to keep nutrients from leaching, soil from eroding, and land from weeding over, as during the winter.

cover crop

noun

1. a crop planted between main crops to prevent leaching or soil erosion or to provide green manure

Word History and Origins

Origin of cover crop¹

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

It donates recycled water from its data centers to farmers, who use it to irrigate their crops, and it has also helped restore the rivers that supply water-stressed cities such as Cape Town, South Africa; in northern Virginia, it has worked to install cover crop farmland that can reduce runoff pollution in local waterways.

From Salon

There’s the crawling vines of the beans, the cover crop of the squash grown below, and the shade being produced by the cornstalks.

From Los Angeles Times

He began growing the grain as cover crop seed in 1994, partially because his property is considered “highly erodible land.”

From Salon

Darby has spent 20 years working with Vermont farmers to grow cover crop rye.

From Salon

In 2023, it’s estimated that only 10.4 million bushels of rye were produced in the U.S., compared to wheat’s 1.8 billion — most of it winter rye, also called cereal rye, grown for food and forage but also, mostly, as cover crop to nurture and protect soil during the off-season.

From Salon