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Cover Crop ROI & All That Matters

Crunching the Numbers Via Biological Bookkeeping

By Mike Seifert
July 27, 2022

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Note: Earlier this summer, Land Stewardship Project soil health organizer Alex Romano reached out to one of our soil health steering committee members, Mike Seifert, who farms near Jordan, Minn., with his wife, Dana, and father, Big Mike, to ask for his thoughts on “return on investment” from cover crops. She wanted to know his approach to and considerations regarding those calculations when making decisions about cover cropping strategies. He was happy to respond to her question. But he found that as he sat down to consider the question and write about it, thoughts that emerged brought up deeper, heart-level questions for him. These are issues that farmers and non-farmers alike grapple with, but that can be difficult to verbalize, let alone wrap our heads around. Members of LSP’s soil health team were moved by the perspectives and deeper questions that Mike outlined with such clarity and thoughtfulness. So, with his permission, we’re offering up the farmer’s response to the “ROI” question:

Mike Seifert seeding cover crops on his farm near Jordan, Minn.

Oh boy, that’s a big, open-ended question. When I saw your e-mail come in a couple of days ago I said to myself, “I’m going to have to sit down in the office to answer this one.” So I hope you don’t mind if I riff on it for a while over my morning coffee, and try to outline the multiple perspectives I have on return on investment and cover crops.

So, when I hear the term “return on investment,” my first reaction is a financial one, since that term is rooted in matters of finance. As such, let’s tackle that aspect of the term first.

From a farm bookkeeping perspective, cover crops are an added expense, and the financial benefit we as farmers get from using cover crops is this amorphous thing that’s hard to pin down. All of the physical benefits from cover crops — improved soil structure, nutrient cycling, feeding the soil biological community, reduced erosion, armoring the soil surface, potential feed for livestock, alleviating compaction, adding organic matter, and on and on — are wonderful, desirable enhancements, but they’re really hard to quantify and translate to financial numbers, and a lot of them are cumulative over several years. I suspect some benefits are even exponential — that is, once you get your soil on a healthy path to recovery and practice careful management, the feedback loop will become positive and actually accelerate until the soil environment achieves a more natural balance.

But how do you put a dollar sign on any of that? It’s absolutely nothing like traditional agronomy, which loves easy charts and figures. Two hundred units of nitrogen will grow 200-bushel corn! Nothing to it! If the fertilizer is affordable, it’s a slam dunk! Just ignore the part where you’re destroying the natural cycle of things. We’ll worry about that later.

So for me, cover crops have to be taken as a long game when it comes to return on investment. And since I really can’t quantify how much my farm production will increase as a result of using cover crops, I just have to take it on faith that it will, and that I will more reliably and consistently produce successful cash crops — particularly on my most fragile and degraded acres. Four years into a method of farming that includes cover cropping, I’d say we’re starting to see that, but I think the best is yet to come, so we’ll continue to be patient and try to do the right things.

Now, if cover crop ROI needs to be taken as a long term investment, how do we reconcile the extra expense in the short term? For me, that one was easy: we pair it with no-till. I think the money we’ve saved in fuel alone each year has covered the extra cost of cover crop seed. Then factor in reduced equipment costs and time savings, and it starts to be a big win. This year, we’re growing our own winter rye for seed, so that’ll knock expenses down even more. So there are lots of ways to offset the short term costs which then, over time, become another part of the long term financial benefit of cover crops.  But you have to combine complementary practices to really get the full benefit of each.

No-till and cover crops augment one another. Diversifying your crop rotation and incorporating livestock each add another reinforcing layer to the financial structure. They also add more work and management! But I think the financial benefits outweigh the added time and attention, and open up more opportunities to be flexible — which is increasingly important in a world that constantly throws us financial and climatological curve balls.

So that’s my take on the financial aspect of ROI and cover crops.

But now I’m going to stray into another aspect of all of this, which is more of the moral and ethical aspect to regenerative agriculture. I’m currently reading two books.  The first is The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells, and the second is Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It’s actually a pretty good pairing, because the optimistic and insightful prose of Kimmerer’s book pretty effectively mitigates the sheer terror of Wells, who is out to demonstrate with evidence that when it comes to climate change, we’re already waist-deep in the rapidly rising shit and just trying to pretend the smell is normal.

The fact is that in the coming years and decades, our food production system is going to be under an enormous and increasing strain. If we can’t figure out how to exist on this planet without merging our civilization into a more harmonious rhythm with the natural world, then any talk of financial ROI — whether it be in cover crops or real estate or the latest share price of Tesla stock — is all going to become a very moot point. You can’t put a dollar amount on the survival of our species and the other roughly 8.7 million species with whom we share this delicate biosphere. We consistently fail to see that we’re completely dependent on the very biological systems that we are methodically destroying, and that has to change. It just simply has to. Right now.

I could go on and on, but that’s a depressing subject, so I’ll get to the point. When it comes to cover crops and other agricultural practices that help preserve and revitalize the ecosystem, I personally only look at the financial aspect of all of this as much as necessary. I do my bookkeeping and make sure we pay our bills so we can keep going, but I try not to let the financial side of agriculture cloud my vision of the larger picture. We need solutions, so I try to keep over 50% of my focus on finding and experimenting with practices that are going to make our food production system more resilient, while also sequestering carbon and providing habitat for as many of our fellow terrestrial organisms as possible. If every agricultural producer started shifting to that mindset, we’d be getting somewhere.

In my mind, the real return on investment from all of this will be a habitable (hopefully even pleasant!) planet to live on, and the ability to look in my kid’s eyes and tell her I did everything I could to be a part of the solution.

In episode 269 of LSP’s Ear to the Ground podcast, Mike Seifert talks about how a creepy crawly experience in the dark of night convinced him he was on the right soil health path. A recent Land Stewardship Letter article describes the Seifert family’s transition to no-till and cover cropping. For more on how to build soil health profitably, check out LSP’s Soil Builders’ Network web page.

Category: Blog
Tags: Braiding Sweetgrass • climate change • cover crops • Dana Seifert • Mike Seifert • ROI • soil health • Uninhabitable Earth

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October 2025

Wednesday October 29

4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Book Event: We Can Do Better: Collected Writings on Land, Conservation, and Public Policy
Wednesday October 29
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Book Event: We Can Do Better: Collected Writings on Land, Conservation, and Public Policy
The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement, 2800 University Ave, Des Moines, IA 50311, USA

The Johnson Center for Land Stewardship Policy is excited to share that one of our its primary pillars of work — a published collection of Paul Johnson’s writings —  is set for release on Oct. 2.  The book features a brief biography and a discussion of Paul’s ideas within the historical and future contexts of private lands conservation. 

For details on We Can Do Better: Collected Writings on Land, Conservation, and Public Policy click here.

Thursday October 30

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Book Event: We Can Do Better: Collected Writings on Land, Conservation, and Public Policy
Thursday October 30
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Book Event: We Can Do Better: Collected Writings on Land, Conservation, and Public Policy
Ames Public Library, 515 Douglas Ave, Ames, IA 50010, USA

The Johnson Center for Land Stewardship Policy is excited to share that one of our its primary pillars of work — a published collection of Paul Johnson’s writings —  is set for release on Oct. 2.  The book features a brief biography and a discussion of Paul’s ideas within the historical and future contexts of private lands conservation. 

For details on We Can Do Better: Collected Writings on Land, Conservation, and Public Policy click here.

November 2025

Saturday November 1

6:15 pm – 9:15 pm
Community Potluck & Folk Dance in Bay City, Wis.
Saturday November 1
6:15 pm – 9:15 pm
Community Potluck & Folk Dance in Bay City, Wis.
W6275 Main St, Bay City, WI 54723, USA

Calling all folk dance lovers! The Land Stewardship Project is co-sponsoring a potluck and folk dance at the Town Hall in Bay City, Wis., on Saturday, Nov. 1. Can you attend or volunteer? LSP is looking for one or two more people to help represent our people-powered organization by tabling at this event. To volunteer, reply directly to this e-mail and let me know you’re available. 
 
For details, check out this flier. 

The potluck and dance are co-hosted by LSP members from Oxheart Farm and the Oak Center General Store. No RSVP required; please direct questions to Emmet at oxheartfarm@gmail.com.
 

Folk Dance Flyer 2025.jpg

Tuesday November 4

11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Birds in the Balance: Pest Control Services Across Crop Types
Tuesday November 4
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Birds in the Balance: Pest Control Services Across Crop Types
Online

This 10-lesson Wild Farm Alliance virtual course teaches agricultural professionals and farmers how to support beneficial birds and manage pest birds on farms. By learning how to assess the farm’s avian needs and opportunities, farms can be designed to provide for a diversity of beneficial birds. 

If pest birds are a problem, they can be discouraged with specific practices during the shorter periods when they cause damage. The sessions cover the latest research, tools and resources, and are given by experts in avian pest control, entomology, ornithology and conservation. While many topics and species are specific to the Midwest, most of the principles discussed are applicable across regions. 

Continuing Education Credits have been requested and are expected to be approved from American Society of Agronomy.

For details and to register, click here. 

The Course Schedule:

LESSON 1

Why Birds Belong on the Farm: Biodiversity, Pest Control & A Thriving Landscape

Tuesday, September 23, 2 p.m. CT


LESSON 2

Birds as Pest Control Allies on the Farm

Tuesday, October 14, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 3

Birds in the Balance: Pest Control Services Across Crop Types

Tuesday, November 4, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 4

Integrating Habitat into Croplands: Prairie Strips and Bird Conservation

Tuesday, December 2, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 5

Birds on the Farm: Balancing Biodiversity and Food Safety

Tuesday, January 13, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 6

Beyond the Crop: Birds, Biodiversity, and the Power of Edge Habitat

Tuesday, February 3, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 7

Bridging Forestry, Farming, and Habitat

Tuesday, February 24, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 8

Perennial Pathways: Agroforestry for Birds and Biodiversity on Farms

Tuesday, March 17, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 9

Birds on the Range: How Grazing Practices Shape Habitat for Grassland Species

Tuesday, April 7, 11 a.m. CT


LESSON 10

Birds at Risk: How Pesticides Shape Safety on Agricultural Lands

Tuesday, April 28, 11 a.m. CT

7:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Big Ag, Big Problems: LSP Panel on Rural Consolidation
Tuesday November 4
7:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Big Ag, Big Problems: LSP Panel on Rural Consolidation
Lanesboro Community Center, 202 Parkway Ave S, Lanesboro, MN 55949, USA

 
The concentration of money and power in our food and farming system is a threat to our rural way of life, the land, and Main Street economies. According to research compiled by Farm Action, agricultural industries ranging from poultry processing to seed distribution are now dominated by four or fewer corporations, creating a system that for all intents and purposes no longer represents an open market situation. This makes it next to impossible for small and mid-sized farms to compete economically.  

Those of us who grew up in the rural Midwest have seen these effects firsthand. As once vibrant agricultural economies diminish, so too do community resources: hospitals, public schools, religious institutions, grocery stores, and more. Young people who see little opportunity in their hometowns move to cities and suburbs to start their careers and families. 
 
A consolidated, corporate-controlled agricultural system is also wreaking havoc on our natural environment. Runoff from large-scale factory farms and row cropping operations threatens our drinking water and spoils natural landscapes that people from all walks of life cherish. Without intervention, it won’t be long before all of us — urban or rural, farmers and non-farmers, rich or poor, young or old — will be impacted by the devastation of Big Ag. 

Join the Land Stewardship Project on Tuesday, Nov. 4, to hear from two people who think a lot about the power of Big Ag and its negative impacts — Austin Frerick and Sonja Trom Eayrs. They will lead a discussion about the forces threatening our rural communities and how we build the people power to take them on. 

This is an opportunity to take the first steps toward developing the kind of positive future for our communities that builds homegrown wealth, treats people fairly, and is resilient in the long term. If you love something and someone, you fight for it. Come fight with us! 
 
Austin Frerick Biography: Austin Frerick is an expert on agricultural and antitrust policy. In 2024, he published his debut book, Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry.
 
Sonja Trom Eayrs Biography: Sonja Trom Eayrs, author of Dodge County, Incorporated: Big Ag and the Undoing of Rural America, is a farmer’s daughter, rural advocate, and attorney.

To register for this event, click here.

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