Farmable vegetative buffers

John Baker

The objective of our research over the three years of support from the Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council (MCRPC) was to develop and test management practices to establish perennial vegetative buffers that can sustain row-crop production while adhering to the Minnesota Buffer Law mandates. Specifically, we sought to develop guidelines for fertilizer nitrogen (N) management for corn production in a kura clover living mulch (KCLM) cropping system, develop and test methods to promote faster establishment of kura clover, and provide field demonstration of living mulch systems as vegetative buffers.