1. Use of a farmer board to choose treatments for small-plot experiments. This collects the ideas from people who are thinking about the problem and who know which solutions could be practical and which could not.
2. Testing 20 approaches. Most cover crop experiments have used no more than 6 to 10 approaches.
3. Opening the door to a range of both cover crop species and management approaches (for the cover crop and for the following corn).
4. Evaluating soil protection level in June. May and June are our months with the greatest potential for erosion. The corn canopy is not yet protecting the soil during these months. Some people have told me that clover or vetch is the answer; others say that fall growth is nonexistent and spring growth is too slow to provide the needed protection by the time corn should be planted. We need to know both that corn will not be hurt and that soil will be protected at the most vulnerable time.