Cover crops

I came across this article on my internet travels about increasing use of cover crops in farming in the US. Looking at local farms, I can see the same sort of activity though in the US, it look like glyphosate is used to kill off the crop before planting afresh. Buying cover crop seeds can be quite expensive but, may be, just go shopping for a packet of barley or such like would do.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodit...022-01-04/

"CHICAGO, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Illinois farmer Jack McCormick planted 350 acres of barley and radishes last fall as part of an off-season crop that he does not intend to harvest. Instead, the crops will be killed off with a weed killer next spring before McCormick plants soybeans in the same dirt.
The barley and radishes will not be used for food, but Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE) will pay McCormick for planting them as the so-called cover crops will generate carbon offset credits for the seeds and chemicals maker."

and later in the article:

"Cover crops can be a really important part of organic and regenerative farming systems," said Amanda Starbuck, research director with Food and Water Watch. "But it all depends on how they're being implemented."

I've always believed that any nation that calls the soil "dirt" has little regard for how they abuse it. Hence their willingness to kill everything with weedkiller.
First it was the dustbowls, now it will be poisonbowls where nothing can grow unless its marketed by Monsanto/Bayer.

Yes I agree. Dirt does seem to imply it is something unclean, as it would be laced with chemicals.

There are a lot of UK farmers using cover crops now, I follow a few of them on Twitter to see what they're up to. Many of them don't use weed killer to terminate the cover crop but instead roll and crimp it, while a thing on the back of the tractor makes a parting in the mulch in to which the next crop is sown. They like posting photos of their soil and get very excited about worms. 

I've got field beans sown in beds where there's nothing growing over winter or where there were big gaps. You can pinch off the tips and eat them in a salad. Hopefully they'll provide some early forage for the bees.