New Digital Tools Refine Cover Crop Selection

By Amy Burtch

Uncertain whether hairy vetch, crimson clover or Austrian winter pea is the best choice for your winter cover crop? The Cover Crop Selector can help. 

Born out of NC State University’s N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative (PSI) and its Extension Agent Network, the digital tool offers growers targeted information for their region regarding the best cover crops to help manage things like erosion, soil fertility, weeds and more.

The effort highlights the initiative’s goal of uniting people to tackle problems and create solutions. “It’s an interdisciplinary research initiative centered on agricultural solutions across North Carolina and beyond, bringing people together from different disciplines,” says Rachel Vann, PSI platform director for extension outreach and engagement. 

The Extension Agent Network, which launched in 2023, engages NC State Extension agents and farmers to “beta-test PSI-developed technologies in the field to accelerate solution delivery through more seamless adoption on North Carolina farms.” The inaugural agent cohort focused on cover crops and ran from the spring of 2023 to the spring of 2025.   The project was funded by several North Carolina commodity boards and NC State alumnus David Peele. 

The cohort tested the Cover Crop Selector software and camera hardware for the Cover Crop Nitrogen Calculator with the goal of improving the technology before launching it in the public realm. 

Why Cover? 

Cover crops are crops planted in a field for which there is no sellable product, shares Chris Reberg-Horton, N.C. PSI resilient agricultural systems platform director. Federal or private institutions largely subsidize the crop cover practice to improve environmental outcomes. 

Why does a farmer plant a cover crop? 

“Some farmers grow for soil protection and health, some for environmental reasons. Others do it as part of a cropping plan,” Reberg-Horton says. “The practice can help with pest, weed, nematode or disease suppression.” 

Reberg-Horton’s lab creates software to handle the complexity of crop production and thus provide useful information to farmers, including a suite of tools to help farmers with cover crop usage.

A Symbiotic Relationship 

Aware of the N.C. PSI goal of utilizing interdisciplinary research to transform North Carolina agriculture, Vann came up with the idea to use NC State Extension agents to connect interdisciplinary researchers to agricultural problems across the state. 

“It’s a symbiotic relationship. The interdisciplinary researchers get real-world feedback from growers on ag tech they are developing,” Vann says. “And the Extension agents can beta-test the tech and engage with more people across the university.” 

Vann fundraised for this possibility, and Reberg-Horton volunteered his research for the first cohort. 

Two and a half years under development, the Cover Crop Species Selector is a gateway tool useful to farmers new to cover cropping. 

“This expert-based decision support tool takes information from a phone application — like soil type, weather, environmental conditions and farmers’ goals — and recommends which cover crop species should be considered,” Reberg-Horton says. 

Since Extension agents have established relationships with farmers, it made sense for them to conduct testing. 

“Interdisciplinary researchers are typically not on the farm where their tech will be deployed,” Vann says. “It is beneficial to insert a professional with boots-on-the-ground connections and farm experience to provide feedback to researchers to improve the product before rollout.” 

Cohort Success 

Reberg-Horton led Extension agents through the software testing process. Then, the agents headed to the fields.

In year one, the agents beta-tested the software. In year two, they tested the hardware, consisting of camera systems connected to field sprayers, to determine the crop cover biomass in a field, which assists farmers with management decisions. 

Randolph County’s Field Crops and Forestry Extension Agent Blake Szilvay visited with 10 farmers, demonstrated the online tool and asked them questions during the beta test.

“Many of my growers could see the importance of the tool, especially since it was relevant to the Southeast’s growing practices and conditions,” Szilvay says. 

Della King, field crops Extension agent in Duplin County, experienced similar reactions. 

“Growers that grow cover crops are receptive to the tool. It helps them with selecting the best cover crop to meet their goals,” King says. 

The growers’ feedback revealed the tool’s strengths and weaknesses, allowing developers to make key improvements and ensure it was more functional and user-friendly before launch, Szilvay explains.

“This cohort worked better than I ever dreamed,” Reberg-Horton says. “That’s due to the Extension agents’ relationships with the farmers and because of their expertise in adult education.” 

Supporting Ag Tech  

What’s perhaps most significant is just how much the growers’ feedback encouraged substantial updates to the software before its public launch. In fact, the cohort was so successful that now nine agent cohorts are beta-testing a variety of ag technology. 

“What the agents working with N.C. PSI are doing could be profound for the Extension system,” Rebert-Horton explains. “Since ag tech is rapidly advancing, having Extension agents involved and testing products on farms early in the process could improve the quality of new products.” 

Vann is thrilled with the cohort’s success. 

“I am proud of how our Extension agents are letting their applied expertise shine in these interdisciplinary research projects,” she says. “They are not only championing growers’ needs in the fields but also finding new opportunities for interdisciplinary teams to solve North Carolina’s agricultural problems.”