DECATUR, Ill. (WCIA) — All eyes at the Farm Progress Show on Wednesday were on a new crop that is making farming more sustainable.

Abigail Peterson is the Director of Agronomy for the Illinois Soybean Association, and she was at Progress City this week to demonstrate cover crops.

“We like to take advantage of the show site here and use it as a demonstration for farmers to come look at different species of cover crops and what different opportunities they could take this fall to try something new or try something for the first time,” Peterson said.

The new crop Peterson is suggesting is cereal rye, which she suggests planting before soybeans.

“It’s a great winter hardy cover crop that is pretty forgiving on management, so we encourage that for your first soybean rotation,” Peterson said. “And you still have time this fall to make that decision.”