My partner and I recently signed on to caretake at a 350 acre farm in
central Wisconsin that is the weekend retreat of the owner. We will be
moving there in the spring and look forward to a season of observation, but
the owner would like some of the land worked sooner rather than later. For
the last few seasons, 50 acres have been rented out to a neighboring farm
for corn, but the owner would like to transition out of that. He does not,
however, know what to transition into as farming is not his area of interst.
I am learning as much as I can about permaculture, and have plans to take a
design course in the next year or two, but at present I'm not in a position
to make any concrete recommendations to the owner. He has asked me what
should be done and I fully intend to offer an opinion so as to avoid a
conventional course of action.
Could anyone offer a suggestion for a reasonable cover crop to follow corn?
Zone 5, sandy to sandy loam soil. There is a possible interest in horse
pasture at some point in the future, but at this point anything that will be
beneficial for the soil and cover it would be great. Any recommendations
for resources that would specifically address this situation?