A cover crop is a plant grown to protect and enrich soil when the soil would otherwise be bare. Historically, cover crops were used by ancient Greek, Roman, and Chinese farmers thousands of years ago and, more recently, by colonial settlers on the Eastern seaboard of the United States. Decades of research on cover crop usage across the United States is available and a renewed interest has been given to cover crops’ ability to reduce some of the environmental impacts of row crop agriculture, particularly in regards to erosion and nutrient loss prevention.