Seed samples of many different species of plants are used in various trials and testing at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Plant Materials Center (PMC), in Bismarck, ND, on March 12, 2015.
The PMC here works mainly with perennial plants. Annual cover crops are also being evaluated for the promotion of soil health. Technical information gathered from these plantings is provided to NRCS field offices that work with private landowners.
Numerous varieties of each species would have been grown for evaluation, with one or several being selected for the desired qualities needed by producers for conservation use in the northern plains. Mixes of grasses and forbs would be for year-long cover crops that grow and die at certain times of the year providing a variety of calculated benefits to the producer's soil; trees and shrubs for shelterbelts help protect fields and homesteads from wind and snow. For more information see nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/plantmaterials/pmc/central/ndpmc/ USDA Photo by Lance Cheung. Original public domain image from Flickr