When driving through rural North Carolina in the winter, you might notice some fields are unseasonably green, well more often than not, those are cover crops.

Photo credit: Nathan Lambrecht

Cover crops are a sustainable, environmentally-friendly practice farmers use to improve their soil quality, protect their ground throughout winter, prevent erosion and more. Learn more about cover crops with these farm facts.

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Photo credit: Nathan Lambrecht

Cover crops are planted after harvesting the main crop in the fall and bloom and grow throughout winter.

See more: 9 Fun Facts About North Carolina Corn

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North Carolina Field & Family Spring 2026
Flip through the pages of the Spring 2026 edition of North Carolina Field and Family magazine. In this issue, impress your guests with creative yet easy spring holiday recipes, learn how farmers face challenges planning the future of their farmland, meet some North Carolina beef producers raising the steaks, start your engines with eight reasons to visit Richmond County, get crabby with Sheri Castle’s Deviled Crab recipe and much more.

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