Can winter cover cropping improve water quality of tail-water discharge?
By Aaron Ristow, Sam Prentice, Wes Wallender, and William Horwath New regulations are holding California growers accountable for detected pollutants draining off their land. In response, there has been growing interest among farmers, researchers, governmental agencies, and environmental conservation groups in investigating the viability of alternative crop production practices that function to conserve soil and water resources. One option SAFS researchers are exploring is the use of winter cover crops to minimize discharge concentrations and/or load of targeted materials that affect water quality parameters. Preliminary analysis has demonstrated a dramatic decline in amount of surface discharge from growers fields while also improving the quality of discharge managed with winter cover crops (SAFS Newsletter Fall 2005, Vol.6, No.1). These results for winter discharge are not surprising. Winter cover cropping provides protection from water erosion by improving aggregate stability and inc
