December 08, 2025

From the Fields: Cover crops may help increase soil moisture

By Brad Riskedal
Stephen Riskedal shows the growth of a radish plant that is intercropped with wheat. This system worked well for the La Salle County farmers in 2025 with no yield drag on the wheat so they decided to do it again.

Stephen Riskedal shows the growth of a radish plant that is intercropped with wheat. This system worked well for the La Salle County farmers in 2025 with no yield drag on the wheat so they decided to do it again. (AgriNews photo/Martha Blum)

We had better moisture than most for much of the summer and I credit the cover crops for that. I could drop a knife into our fields and there was moisture right under the top surface.

If the soil was exposed to the sun, it was a little dry. But if there was crop shading it or the cover crop shading it, there was good moisture and earthworms at the surface — it was pretty amazing.

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