Sustainability Language

Coffee, Cocoa & Agricultural Commodities

Cover cropping

Planting crops primarily to protect and improve the soil between cash-crop seasons, rather than for harvest.

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Definition

Cover cropping is the practice of growing plants — such as legumes, grasses or brassicas — to keep soil covered outside the main cropping period. Cover crops reduce erosion, suppress weeds, fix or scavenge nutrients, improve soil structure and water infiltration, and add organic matter; they deliver the permanent-soil-cover principle of FAO Conservation Agriculture, which calls for at least 30 per cent soil organic cover.

References

FAO

soil-cover principle and threshold

Overview

What it means

Treating the off-season as an opportunity to build soil capital rather than leaving fields bare.

How it is used

Farmers integrate cover crops into rotations and no-till systems; the practice features in regenerative agriculture programmes, carbon-farming pilots and commodity sustainability standards.

Why it matters

Soil cover is a frontline defence against erosion and degradation, and cover cropping is among the most scalable practices linking farm productivity with climate and biodiversity goals.

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