(ABC 6 News) – Iowa State agriculture professors descended on northern Iowa to share information.

The topic of conversation: cover crops and relay intercropping, a process where a lifecycle of one crop overlaps with another.

Mark Licht is an associate professor of agriculture at Iowa State University and specializes in cover crops and relay intercropping.

“Relay intercropping is relatively new. We wanted to learn what they’re learning, what they’re thinking, and, you know, what some of the barriers to a new practice are.”

That process could have huge impacts on farmer’s bottom line, as some studies show relay cropping can potentially double net profit per acre.

Although there is also risk depending on the weather as harvesting can more complicated because farmers would only want to harvest certain crops, instead of a whole row of them.

The professors will check back in at the end of 2024 and two years from now to check how progress is going.

Given the warm weather here in our area, the information shared today will be vital going forward, especially during one of the warmest Februarys on record.