Profitability of legume cover crops in the mid Atlantic region

Data from agronomic field trials in Maryland were used to construct nitrogen response functions for no-till corn following four cover crops and winter fallow. The estimated nitrogen response functions were used to estimate profit-maximizing nitrogen application rates and maximum profit under each treatment. Hairy vetch proved more profitable than crimson clover, Austrian peas, wheat, or fallow under a wide range of prices for corn, nitrogen and vetch seed and of herbicide costs. A hairy vetch-corn rotation exhibited small savings in nitrogen relative to wheat-corn or fallow-corn rotations at profit-maximizing application rates, perhaps because vetch improves nitrogen uptake and thus increases the marginal productivity of nitrogen.