The “King” of buffer strips

The Minnesota Corn Growers Association launched its “Minnesota Farm Team” campaign last week to highlight how corn farmers take care of our land, water and soil. MinnesotaCornerstone.com will profile a different member of the Farm Team every day this week.

Bill Brown and his family were named the Watonwan County Farm Family of the Year in 2013 by the University of Minnesota. After talking farming with Bill for just a few minutes, it’s easy to see why.

Brown is a fourth-generation farmer and farms 567 acres that have been in the family since 1901. He raises corn and soybeans and custom feeds 5,000 head of finishing hogs each year.

Bill also uses buffer strips on his family farm to protect water quality and was the first farmer in his county to use grid sampling to get a better sense of the nutrients on his field.

“It’s important to take the land we’ve been given and be good stewards,” Bill says. “We do our best to keep everything home, keep it on our land and out of the water.”

But Bill is more than a conservation-minded farmer. He’s also an Elvis impersonator. Bill’s Elvis act started 10 years ago at a community theater and has been going strong ever since. Bill and his band “Attitude” play 12-15 gigs per year and have a great time doing it.

Thank you, Bill, for serving as both the buffer strip expert and the “King” on the Minnesota Farm Team.

To learn more about the Minnesota Farm Team, visit MNFarmteam.com. You can register to serve as groundskeeper for a day at a Minnesota Twins game and win other great prizes. You can listen to all four Minnesota Farm Team radio commercials below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBuA-YrYRUQ