cover crop

American  

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.

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cover crop British  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of cover crop

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

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 • Jul. 18, 2024

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

From Salon • Jan. 18, 2024

Elmore seeds cover crops by plane before harvesting his cash crop, but cover crop growth has been spotty, not worth the $40-per-acre cost.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 2, 2023

Swiss-headquartered agrichemicals and seeds group Syngenta began offering a cover crop seed mixture in Spain this year.

From Reuters • Sep. 14, 2023

Runoff is checked by a sod and less water is used by a sod in mid-summer, after it has been mowed, than by a heavy cover crop.

From Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Twenty-Fourth Annual Meeting Downington, Pennsylvania, September 11 and 12, 1933 by Northern Nut Growers Association