Early flowering hairy vetch gives boost to northern farmers

Thanks to the release of a new early flowering hairy vetch, farmers who use the leguminous cover crop as a weed-suppressing mulch will have less to kvetch about when it comes to the timing of planting corn. Working with the Rodale Institute, Agricultural Research Service breeders at the Sustainable Agriculture Systems Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, have released winter hardy ‘Purple Bounty’. The early flowering trait will allow farmers to plant their cash crops two weeks earlier. Full story