The University of Minnesota Extension is sponsoring a workshop and tour highlighting the applied research for establishing perennial cover crop systems within a corn and soybean rotation. Farmers, Ag professionals, government agency personnel and the public are invited to the Rosemount Research and Outreach Center for a tour of the latest in perennial cover crop agricultural research. University of Minnesota Extension specialists, USDA Agricultural Research Staff and University of Minnesota Staff will lead a guided tour of the Research Center’s test plots, presenting their research on establishing perennial cover crop systems within corn and soybeans. The tour will stop for a picnic lunch at the new Whitetail Woods Regional Park.

The Field Day will be held Wednesday, August 24, 2016 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Rosemount Research and Outreach Center located at 16975 Arkansas Ave, Rosemount. The workshop begins with morning refreshments and on-site registration at 8:30 a.m., bus leaves at 9:00 a.m.

Registration fee is $15.00 per person. Program materials and lunch are included in the registration fee. To reserve your spot and to help with workshop planning, pre-registration is preferred online at http://z.umn.edu/august24 or contact Larisa Jenrich at 651-480-7732 or jenri001@umn.edu. You can pay at the door via check or credit card .

The field day research and demonstration stops will include:

• Agronomics of the kura clover living mulch system in field corn systems
• Cover crop establishment within established corn growing in a Minnesota climate
• Cash cover crops: Relay-cropping oilseeds in corn-soybean rotations

The goal of this University of Minnesota research, “Greening the brown period using managed perennial species,” is to develop a perennial cover crop system within a corn and soybean rotation. This will be done by manipulating tillage treatments with various perennial species to optimize cover while minimizing yield loss to the cash crop harvested in the fall. Designing such a system with perennials will allow for a continuous living cover across the landscape without the need to repurchase and replant cover seed each year.

For more detailed information about the tour, go to http://z.umn.edu/rosemountfieldday