b"Yvonne Lawley, a professor at the University of Manitoba, is doing research on cover crops across the Canadian Prairies.PHOTO: YVONNE LAWLEY.It might help to capture a little bit more snow or take in an intensive rain a lot quicker. In different soils zones, when you're in black soil zones, or even the dark brown ones, like in central Alberta up into Edmonton area, then in most years you're going to be able to recharge it, you're going to get some something back from it, he explains.However, planting cover crops isnt always the best economic choice on paper. Gillespie says the economics for cover crops isnt straight forward. When looking at the economics you need to consider all that youre getting back for planting a cover crop, and while it may not be a direct return on investment the benefits that your soil receives make it worth it.If you're looking at spending, even $20 an acre, that would be probably your minimum just in terms of applying them and seed but it could get easily get a lot more than that. So you have to think of how much are you actually getting out of that, he says.There are options when it comes to cover crops and statistics show more farmers in Alberta are becoming interested in cover cropping.Cover Crop SurveyA cover cropping survey completed by the University of Manitoba (U of M) in 2020 showed that interest in cover cropping is on the rise in Alberta, following a trend happening across Western Canada. University of Manitoba PhD student Callum Morrison taking soil moisture There were 281 farmers who grow cover crops from across thereadings at a soybean plot in a long-term cover cropping experiment in three Prairie provinces surveyed, with 86 coming from AlbertaCarman, Man.PHOTO: CHAMARA WEERASEKARA54seed.ab.ca"