
I could just make out the flecks of green, sprouts of a rye cover crop that will grow this spring. Later, he’ll spread clover seed into that rye, he told me. When the rye dies, it will start releasing carbon dioxide, but the next crop, the clover, will be there to soak it up before it’s freed from the soil. Then, the clover will fix nitrogen — when microorganisms attach to roots, converting nitrogen into natural fertilizer for next year’s corn crop.