Establishing clovers on Conservation Reserve Program land

Approximately 36 million acres of marginal cropland were placed in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in the late 1980's. As the contracts expire, some farmers are preparing them for forage production. In Kentucky and surrounding states, most of the CRP land has a good stand of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), but very little clover. This study was started in 1995 to evaluate methods of establishing clovers in CRP fields. Red (Trifolium pratense) and ladino (Trifolium repens) clovers were seeded early in 1995 and 1996 by broadcasting, disk and broadcasting and using a no-till drill. All the methods used resulted in good stands of clovers.