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Taking soil samples from both cover-cropped and bare areas back to the lab, researchers found that the bare area had significantly less moisture in the soil than the cover-cropped area.
"Every year since then, it's been the same results," Emmons says. Testing the soil temperature in the top 4 inches of the profile on a day when it was 113 degrees F, they found that the temperature in the cover cropped ground was 81 degrees F. The temperature in the bare soil was 130 degrees F.
Emmons says that soil microbes are just like humans. When it is 75-80 degrees F, they can get some work done, but when the temperature rises up to 100 degrees, they slow down and shut down.
"These results were a game-changer for me," he says, "because it was not what I was taught."