Are you always growing and evaluating what you want to accomplish? Keith Berns of Green Cover shares his insights on that question as a co-business owner, farmer, and educator of diverse, customizable cover crop mixtures with Jeff, Summer, and Eric. Keith and his brother Brian and their families started Green Cover in 2008 in Bladen, Nebraska and Iola, Kansas. Since that time, their core value of always growing has taken root in many tangible ways. Today, Green Cover has 60 employees, specializes in 120 different types of single species cover crops, and helps keep more than one million acres of soil covered and continuously growing. They are educators at heart and always start with what you want to accomplish, when thinking about potential cover crop mixtures. To assist their customers around the country, Green Cover developed their SmartMix Calculator to guide the decision process about goals, timing, and placement. Additionally, they are continually evaluating new cover crop species and have recently introduced okra, coriander, and a variety of cucurbits into different blends. Along with the SmartMix Calculator, you can find and access on their website Green Cover's Annual Soil Health Resource Guide that covers a range of topics from soil health to human nutrition connections. Additionally, they are hosting their Regenerative Nexus summit in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on November 10 - 12, 2026. Tune in, like, and subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts or 4thesoil.org/podcast As always, we encourage you to cooperate with other farmers, graziers, and gardeners for peer-to-peer learning. We can all be 4 The Soil, for the future! Here is how with four principles: 1) Keep the soil covered -- Cover crops are our friends; 2) Minimize soil disturbance -- Be gentle, take it easy; 3) Maximize living roots year-round -- Keep roots growing; and 4) Energize with diversity -- Thrive with diversity. If you are interested in art and framing the 4 The Soil posters for your office or home, the 16” by 20” posters are available for purchase and printing as single posters or a set of five posters. Additionally, 4 The Soil gear and swag is available for purchase at https://4-the-soil.printify.me/ If you have questions about soil and water conservation practices, or soil health principles, call or visit a USDA Service Center, a Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District office, or your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is made possible with funding support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and The Agua Fund. Partners include USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; Virginia Cooperative Extension; Virginia State University; Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; and other members of the Virginia Soil Health Coalition. Disclaimer: Views expressed on this podcast are those of each individual guest. To download a copy of this, or any other show, visit the website 4thesoil.org. Music used during today’s program is courtesy of the Flip Charts. All rights reserved. 4 the Soil: A Conversation is produced by On the Farm Radio in collaboration with Virginia Tech's School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia State University, and the Virginia Soil Health Coalition. The host and co-hosts are Jeff Ishee, Mary Sketch Bryant, and Eric Bendfeldt.
