Farmer Dan,
I don’t know where your farming, so hard to advise.
Have you done any soil analysis ?
Are your Ca, Mg, Na ratios correct ?
Watch out for Iron issues with pH adjustment.
are you applying any pgrs, nematodes or microrizee ?
Have you sampled for depth of soil profile ?
You should start doing tissue analysis (macro & micro nutrients) at harvest to see how much tN (as biomass) was taken out of your system as well as any other nutrients that may be depleted.
Not sure of what cultural practices you use (plant spacing, raised beds, irrigation method, so its hard to say which cover crop you need. That said, russian fescue, vetch, alfalfa, barley all work very well, but should be turned at heading so as not to compete.
I hope you consider drip, either surface or subsurface( to aid in increasing soil oxygen levels) and being efficient water wise and fertigate to reduce soil compaction.
The addition of compost is necessary every year to replace PAN, create better soil texture / composition and renew the microorganisms required for mineralization of the organics.
Fertilizer is cheap insurance to prevent soil deficiencies, but also leads to nitrate leaching, ground water pollution and a waste of resources ($$$) and time.
best of luck
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