My experiment is on a couple small patches totaling 13 acres. It's land I wouldn't normally plant corn there because it's thin and droughty. But I've raised good crops of forage, wheat, oats, and soybeans, depending on whether the year had good moisture.

I plan to plant corn this year though, to see how much the vetch mix cover helps with moisture retention--and weed control of course. I want to plant a lower population than I'd usually plant, but of a hybrid with a lot of flex (2-3 ears per stalk if it's very thin) as a partial hedge against droughty soil.

But as you might guess, I'm concerned with planting a lower population...only to have voles reduce the population even more.