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Prevent plant acres increasing demand for cover crop seed

An Illinois Stine Seed Company representative says cover crop seed is in high demand right now.

“All of the prevented plant acres that are out there this year put a strain on the seed supply as far as summer annuals, which the industry wasn’t prepared for.”

Cliff Schuette tells Brownfield farmers are looking to plant cover crops earlier on unplanted fields, but new cover crop seed doesn’t usually ship to the Midwest until August.

“A lot of it is getting harvested in July in the Dakotas, so I think there might be a little strain early on but once the new crop is here, I think then we will have a pretty good supply.”

He says demand for the seed grew once the final planting dates for corn came around and it picked up even more when the USDA announced an earlier harvest date for cover crops on prevent plant acres to help with forage shortages.